CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Council of Hotel and Restaurant Trainers (CHART, www.chart.org) held their 19th CHART Service Event during their semi-annual hospitality training conference in Chicago, IL. Over 20 CHART members and guests came a day early to the conference to give back to the host city and volunteer at SubCon Packing & Assembly, a division of Helping Hand Center (www.hhcenter.org). On Saturday, July 21, 2012, the volunteers traveled to Helping Hand Center, a nonprofit organization assisting over 500 people with developmental disabilities become independent, where they spent the morning working on an assembly line shrink-wrapping and packing envelopes and putting together various car components. The packing & assembly operation provides a unique supervised environment for real-world vocational training and also functions as a revenue-generating job-shop.
“Our goal was to again offer ourselves to a service organization so they can better serve their clients,” said John Kelley, Vice President of Training and Human Resources at White Castle System Inc and newly elected president of CHART. “Our service events, while offering networking among attendees, also promote volunteerism members can bring back to their respective restaurants and hotels."
Mary Beth Hepp, Executive Director at Helping Hand Center said, “We appreciate CHART conference attendees helping us meet our production quotas. Like their organization, we are also engaged in training to ensure everyone reaches their full potential.”
“The four guiding principles of CHART are Learning, Sharing, Growing, and Caring,” stated Alisha Gulden, Regional Sales Director, Midwest for National Restaurant Association and Service Event Director for CHART’s Chicago Conference. “These service events show how much our members care by giving back to the local community. A special thanks to CHART member Terry Pappas, Training & Development Manager, who provided lunch courtesy of Monical’s Pizza.”
Community service projects have been incorporated into CHART’s semi-annual conferences since 2002. Photos, with captions, of this 19th semi-annual community service event can be found at CHART’s News Room Photo Gallery.
CHART hosted more than 250 attendees at its’ 84th Semi-annual Hospitality Training Conference at the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel in Chicago, IL on July 21-24, 2012. In addition to the service event and educational sessions led by hotel and restaurant industry experts, motivational speakers, authors, and consultants, several awards were given including:
- John Grady, President of Ninety Nine Restaurants – Commitment to People Award
- Andrew Arvay, Director of Employee Development at United States Beef Corp. – Spirit of CHART Award
- Kate Shehan, Vice President of Human Resources at Legal Sea Foods – Spirit of CHART Award
- Sara Dickinson, Iowa State University – CHART/NRAEF Scholarship
- Wesley Benjamin, Johnson & Wales University - CHART/NRAEF Scholarship
- Jacqueline Lowell, Boston University - CHART/AHLEF Scholarship
For more information, please call 312.405.2634, email lmarovec@ameritech.net, or visit www.chart.org.
CHART (www.chart.org), a non-profit professional association founded in 1970, is the leading resource for the development and advancement of hospitality training professional and their organizations. With more than 450 members from more than 300 multi-unit restaurant and hotel companies, CHART represents a workforce of almost five million. CHART includes all facets of hospitality training, learning and performance professionals; from entry level to senior executive. CHART’s mission is to develop hospitality training professionals to advance industry training practices and improve operational results by providing access to education, tools and resources.
Helping Hand Center (www.hhcenter.org) is a nonprofit organization serving children and adults with disabilities in suburban Cook County and greater Chicagoland communities since 1955. We offer a range of programs and services, including outpatient therapies, early intervention, a school for children with autism, high school transition, residential homes, employment services, adult developmental training, and special recreation programs.