38 | May/June 2019
While learning how to network
both with the people who come
to eat at Operation Inasmuch and
the staff and volunteers who are
there to help out, FTCC culinary
arts students pick up things about
working in the kitchen that are
difficult to replicate in a classroom
setting.
they know nobody, to garner trust
and learn the system and procedures
these establishments have and how to
function in the workplace properly."
Typically, a student will work from
five to seven days a week at Operation
Inasmuch depending on the schedule
that Chef James Belton of the Operation
Inasmuch food service sets for them.
e students have the option of
scheduling their hands-on training at
the middle of a semester or at the end.
ey have to spend 320 hours on the job
to get their degree.
Belton said the kitchen at Operation
Inasmuch turns out breakfast daily,
with the crew coming at 5:30 a.m. to
prepare to serve breakfast Monday
through Friday from 8 a.m. until 8:30
a.m.
Belton said the students from
Fayetteville Tech are put in leadership
roles in the kitchen where they help
prepare and design meals. ey work
with a group of volunteers who do
the actual job of serving the meals to
the people who come to Operation
Inasmuch to eat.
"It's almost like a family," Belton said
of the setting at Operation Inasmuch.
"ey come and sit down and we
bring the plates out to them. We have
volunteers that come from different
churches, and from our volunteer
family."
Belton said that like the volunteers
at Operation Inasmuch, the students
working in the kitchen share an
