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About The Position
Housing Matters partners with individuals and families to create pathways out of their homelessness into permanent housing. We are a leader in working to end homelessness and we want you to be part of our team! We are looking for individuals eager to make a difference and willing to enthusiastically commit to join in our vision that homelessness in Santa Cruz County should be rare, brief, and non-recurring.
Working under the direct supervision of the Kitchen Manager, this position is responsible for prepping, cooking, and providing transport of meals from Housing Matters to RCC residential participants. The ideal candidate will work alongside kitchen staff and campus shelter DSCs and is expected to be totally immersed in the day-to-day operations involved with running an institutional kitchen while practicing safe food handling standards and procedures.
Hours and Benefits
The Kitchen / DSC is a full-time, hourly, non-exempt position, eligible for medical, dental, vision, 403b, and our generous PTO plan.
Requirements
- Regular standing, walking, sitting, crouching, stooping, transporting food in a vehicle, and communication are required.
- Requires manual dexterity for regular repetitive finger motion and frequent reaching, pulling, pushing, and lifting objects and operating equipment.
- Requires the ability to lift 60 lbs.
- Must be Serve-safe certified.
- Must have a valid California Driver’s License, insurance, and registered vehicle, as they are necessary to fulfill an essential component of this position.
- Structured scheduling skills
- Properly operating kitchen equipment
- Kitchen cleaning and safety procedures
- Kitchen organizational skills
- Food Handling
- Customer service skills
Nice To Haves
- Minimum of 1 year of prior institutional cooking experience (school cafeteria, prison, shelter) preparing food for large volumes of people preferred.
Responsibilities
- Preparing, cooking, and serving meals. Food prepared must meet quality and Serve-safe standards for taste, temperature (doneness), and visual appeal.
- Safely use all equipment according to proper procedures – stove, title skillet, kettle, convection ovens, can openers, knives, steam tables, ice wands, trash compactor, carts).
- Wash dishes and kitchen equipment.
- Transport meals to Recuperative Care Center
- Following opening and closing procedures.
- Maintaining and following cleaning and sanitizing protocols to ensure a safe environment.
- Supporting shelter programs and day services
- Maintaining a safe, secure, and clean environment
- Be available to answer questions and problem-solve with shelter guests
- Distribute snacks and supplies when available
- Understand and apply housing first and harm reduction strategies
- Maintain and role model professional boundaries at all times
- Respond appropriately to potential encounters using de‐escalation techniques
- Call upon community resources for assistance when appropriate
- Maintain curfew and visiting policy specific to each program
- Communicate with staff via email or during shift handoffs
- When appropriate, complete Incident Reports per policy guidelines
- Review and maintain accurate documentation for each program
- Provide support to program staff
- Attend staff and agency trainings and meetings as required
- Other duties as assigned
Benefits
- 6 Medical plans – 100% employee coverage
- Dental – 100% employee coverage
- Vision – 100% employee coverage
- Life insurance (UNUM) – 100% employee coverage
- Chiropractic and Acupuncture (for those who elect medical insurance) – 100% employee coverage
- 403b Retirement Savings matched up to 3% dollar-for-dollar with no vesting period
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and Travel Assistance
- PTO: accrues to 20 days annually, 1 paid floating holiday, 9 paid holidays
