Photo courtesy of the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office
STAFF REPORT :::
Five inmates of the Spalding County Jail have graduated from the Serve-Safe Program, an initiative of the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office and Aramark Food Services.
The Jan. 9 graduation marks the third successful class since the programs inception.
Designed to teach potential restaurant employees the skills necessary to safely and properly prepare food in a commercial setting, this program allows inmates to obtain highly marketable skills while incarcerated.
“The program was sponsored by the Aramark Food Company who provides our inmate meals, at no cost to the inmates or the county. This is third session we have completed with a total of fifteen graduates so far. Each of the inmates volunteered for the 9-week program that includes a testing process to graduate and obtain the certification,” said Sheriff Darrell Dix. “Thursday, we had a graduation ceremony where family, friends, Aramark representatives, and Sheriff’s Office employees tasted barbeque meatballs, buffalo chicken wings, potato salad, and deserts all prepared by the graduates. These men worked hard and now have a marketable skill that will hopefully get them going in the right direction. Our hope is that they understand that no matter what they have done in their past, they can still do positive things today.”
Clarence Nance, the Aramark Food Services director for the Spalding County Jail, also praised the program participants.
“We are pleased to partner with the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office in providing the Serve-safe program to inmates,” Nance said. “The Aramark staff had the opportunity to work with the guys who went through the class and I am proud of each of them and their accomplishments. They worked very hard to obtain this goal.”
