An immigrant from Kuwait, Amany and her husband have been living in the US for nearly 30 years. On three separate occasions attorneys, who pledged to help them gain their citizenship, defrauded them. Amany lost $15,000 in total to unscrupulous attorneys. While trying to make ends meet on a waitress’ salary, Amany found our Culinary Arts Training program, applied, and was accepted into the January 2020 class, which was placed on hold due to COVID. She returned that summer to join the abbreviated Job Essential Training Program and passed the ServSafe exam, a national food safety and sanitation certification. With the help of Chef Jill, and volunteers from Rutgers Camden who helped her with her resume, Amany landed a job at Wegman’s Cherry Hill, initially in the bakery and currently in the cheese department. With steady income and good health insurance, Amany was able to get needed weight loss surgery. She has since lost 135 pounds, is no longer diabetic, and has so much more energy and hope for her family’s future.
Today, Amany is working with an honest attorney and is due to get her citizenship in February. Her daughter attends Rutgers and plans to go to dental school, and her son, who works at Wegmans with her, is a junior in high school with straight A’s and plans to go to college.
“I’m so grateful for everything Cathedral Kitchen did to help me get on this path.
