Hear the story behind the Executive Chef and Lead Instructor of Germaine’s Kitchen and Café, Jon Wirtis. A Californian native, Chef Jon Wirtis always had a heart for cooking. Starting out in his father’s restaurant, Chef Jon worked his way up in the culinary world. Chef Jon believes in the power of food: to help,…

Dive into the journey of Germaine’s Kitchen and Café! Learn how the idea first came to Catholic Charities of Oregon and how it has blossomed into an innovative enterprise. Read the article: https://catholicsentinel.org/Content/News/Local/Article/The-journey-of-Germaine-s-Kitchen-and-Caf-/2/35/45253

Special congratulations to our first cohort of students graduating from Germaine’s Kitchen and Café culinary training program. We could not be prouder! During their 16-weeks in the program they have learned professional culinary skills such as food safety, knife skills, sanitation and more! They’ve also been building professional skills including time-management, resume building, and customer…

Germaine’s Kitchen Café (GKC) is a workforce development culinary training program. GKC students learn essential skills that will put them on a path to success in a professional kitchen or foodservice operation. Our program offers in-class instruction on the fundamentals and foundations of cooking along with the very important job/life skills and hands-on learning in…

Welcome to Germaine’s Kitchen Café, a Gluten Free Culinary Arts program of Catholic Charities Oregon. Here, our program delivers a variety of essential skills helping our students and participants on a path to success in a professional kitchen or foodservice operation. Our program offers in-class instruction on the fundamentals and foundations of cooking along with…

Chef Jon Wirtis is Catholic Charities of Oregon’s new Executive Chef/Instructor. His two passions are food and people. Like Catholic Charities, Chef Jon believes food, the very thing that sustains our bodies, can also be the foundation for sustaining and transforming our local communities. One of Chef Jon’s main duties in his role as Executive…

Catholic Charities has developed a multi-faceted, person-focused approach to provide food to historically underserved and vulnerable individuals and families in the Portland Metro area.

Executive Director Rick Birkel, Ph.D. describes the agency’s newly expanded role and vision for the dining hall as a social service program.