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Dear Chefs,Members and friends - It is with great honor and humility that I write this message. I am grateful to be able to serve the chapter, our culinary community and the ACF. I have been fortunate to have a terrific family ,work family and ACF family. Our chapter has accomplished a lot this past year including: The annual Veterans brunch honoring brave men and women who have served us, the Food bank culinary challenge for high school age culinary students, participating in the Captains table, theCommunity Food Bank's Night of 300 thousand meals, Wing Fest, South Jersey Gumbo contest and Lets Get Cookin' for the Boys and Girls club. We had ten terrific chapter meetings and many terrific Educational presenters. We continued with our holiday toy drive and gave over 150 gifts to kids for the Salvation Army and Toys for Tots. We supported chefs with different things including raising money for the ALS foundation and the Salvation Army Holiday meal. We will continue to be involved. For over 50 years we have been here for chefs and contributed to our community and the ACF. God willing, we will continue to do so.
As I wrote this message, I could not help but think of a quote I heard from the coach of the NFL championsThe Philadelphia Eagles Nick Sirianni , "You cannot be great without the greatness of others." This quote emphasizes the importance of teamwork and selflessness in achieving success. Our chapter does this. I believe the ACF and our chapter provide a place for chefs and industry members to utilize their talents as well as shine and show greatness. There are many hard-working talented individuals both in and out of our chapter but for those who choose to be a part of something bigger than themselves, the things that we as group can achieved are beyond measure. I serve along with our great board, and together we will continue to do our best. Please consider getting involved and sharing who we are with everyone. Our chapter and ACF are a great place for Chefs, students and Culinarians.
Thank you to everyone for your continued support of the chapter and I wish everyone a great 2025. Sincerely yours Chef David Goldstein - President of the PCASJ.
Our President's Message
February 5,2024
To our great chefs, members and friends - I wanted to take a moment and thank all the folks who have contributed to helping make our great chapter successful.
This past year went by fast, and I believe we did very well as a chapter. Many changes took place for me both personally and professionally but no matter what happened the chapter was always great to me, and I believe a resource for many of our chefs and friends. We are fortunate to be a part of something so great.
This past year we lost one of our leaders and hall of fame chefs Wolfgang Geckeler. He was a friend and mentor to us all. He will be missed but not forgotten.
During the past year we accomplished a lot of wonderful things. One of them was supporting the Food bank. Our chapter contributed to the food bank being able to raise enough money to feed tens of thousands of meals. We also helped the charity Let us eat Please and that event raised enough funds to feed over 25000 meals to kids.
We celebrated our South Jersey Veterans with the Operation serving those who served us Vets brunch. I was told this is their favorite event of the year.
We had great chapter meetings with many fantastic chefs. During the holidays we collected toys for the Salvation Army and Toys for Tots, and gave out over a hundred gifts. We entered a Gumbo contest for the first time and came in first place, winning a thousand dollars for the chapter. It was a wonderful experience. We had our first student culinary challenge & competition with three schools entering. All the students did an excellent job. Every student walked away with a financial prize to help them with their continuing education.
We were asked to send judges to Rutgers University to judge a serious culinary competition for the great culinary talent working at Rutgers. That was a wonderful experience, and we represented our chapter very well.
Our chapter treasurer and great Chef Lawrence Alexander won the L. EDWIN BROWN LEADERSHIP AWARD NORTHEAST REGION. This is one of the highest honors that can be given in the ACF.
In 2024 we expect to have another momentous year with many things to look forward to too. We just completed the Wing fest with Scott Cronick wing competition. We won best booth and display award. Not bad for our first time doing this.
I wish everyone great health and happiness throughout the year. I hope that everyone can please help spread the word about our great chapter and get new members and students involved.
I also wish to say thank you to all the folks who have contributed this past year as well as the great leadership from our board members. A lot of people contributed to making us better. They all did fantastic..
Thank you - Sincerely yours Chef David Goldstein President of the PCASJ.
