Jay Shares his Digital Skillset with Giving Kitchen

Weeks after an incredible meal at Staplehouse, I still couldn’t shake the feeling of what Giving Kitchen and Staplehouse collectively represented. I had an immediate and visceral attraction to seeing people at the top of their craft using their talents and influence to help those in need, and I needed to learn more. 

I consider myself very fortunate to have a career in a field that I care deeply about that also happens to take good care of me financially. When I use that same lens to consider what my life might have been like if I had instead pursued culinary arts, it immediately illuminates the sacrifices I would have made in order to follow that dream. Volunteering my expertise in technology allows me to honor both of these passions and nourishes my growing obsession with food and cooking by sharing the benefits I’ve reaped with a career in tech with those in the food service industry. Call it fate, call it GK Magic, call it the universe beckoning, but for me it’s about gratitude.

I’ve never met so many people with such unified hearts and purpose. It’s not just the grants or the Pop-Up Docs that bring them together. It’s the ideals that Giving Kitchen holds to be true which are that crises will be met with compassion and that cycles of abuse must be replaced with networks of support. Being in GK’s office surrounded by people who consider themselves ordinary, I can only genuflect at the sincere absence of ego or self-importance by those who have touched thousands of lives in a way that cannot be reduced to utility bills and rent checks. And for that, I am humbled by GK’s trust in me to manage the development of their app.

We all climb out of bed every day and go about our work without a second thought given to the types of experiences we each bring to the table. But whether you’re in a classroom teaching or in an office programming mobile apps, using the specialized skills that you hone and sharpen every day to help people in need is as close to superpowers as we’re ever going to get as human beings.