DONATE

Your support helps provide youth, ages 16 to 26 with a pathway to employment and financial independence.

Root’s 14-week, 240-hour program of direct kitchen and classroom training provides students with technical and experiential education in the culinary arts.  Equally important, Root’s program emphasizes five critical skills employers expect and which correlate with continued success: social and cognitive skills, self-agency, communication, and confidence.

Many employers will match contributions. Please ask yours if they will match your support of Root.

Seed Opportunity - Join Root as a sustaining donor!

A single gift makes a big impact - and a monthly sustaining gift, at any level, helps Root keep going and growing. Join our sustainer giving program today and your contribution keeps Root Trainees prepared with the learning materials they need to feed their opportunity - and you! A sustaining gift delivers lasting support for our programs.

See what a monthly gift can do:

• $10/month for one year supports transportation assistance for one youth Trainee to get to and from Root and their restaurant externship site;

• $25/month for one year provides additional training and skill-building opportunities for Root alumni, enabling our alumni to continue their transition into adulthood with specialized food service training opportunities and additional life skills workshops and resources.

• $50/month for one year covers a learner’s permit, driving lessons, and licensing fees for a Root graduate to earn their driver’s license.

• $100/month for one year pays for one of Root’s free, twice-monthly Salem Meet and Eat community dinners, prepared and served to Salem residents by a team of Root graduates.
  

  *For more information, contact Faith Emerson at femerson@rootns.org or 978-616-7615 ext. 106.

Volunteer

• Mock Interviews and Resume Workshops
  During the Root program, youth are provided with opportunities to test out their workforce skills in a supportive environment, including interview practice. Volunteers are needed to meet one-on-one with Youth Trainees to help build and edit resumes and conduct mock interviews. Some prior experience in hiring is preferred but not required, and a brief training session is available before each session.

• Guest Chef
  Part of preparing young people for success in the workforce is exposing them to different exposing them to different styles of instruction, cuisines, and paths they can take in their career. Root seeks to highlight a variety of different cuisines and culinary careers for our youth and welcomes a variety of professionals to come in and share their passion and expertise with our youth.

• Host a Root Trainee
  Offer to host one of our youth at your restaurant or business or connect us with possible host sites or employment opportunities. Contact Merlinda Philippe for more information.

• General Support
  Occasional support for a variety of projects from large mailings, readying the workshop and computers in-between, periodic inventory projects, etc.

• Event Support
  Be a part of Root’s fundraising and community outreach events.

Contact Faith Emerson for more information at femerson@rootns.org or 978-616-7615 ext. 106

For paperwork purposes, Root’s legal name is
Root NS Inc.
Shetland Park
35 Congress Street, Suite 2350
Salem MA 01970
Our tax identification number is: 47-5454938

Spread the Word!
Follow us on social media, come to an event, share with your friends why you support Root! Help us get the word out about our Youth Job Training Program, and about our Catering and HarborPoint event space.