{"id":10554,"date":"2011-10-10T16:56:35","date_gmt":"2011-10-10T20:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=10554"},"modified":"2011-10-10T16:56:35","modified_gmt":"2011-10-10T20:56:35","slug":"public-housing-residents-learn-%e2%80%98art-of-cooking%e2%80%99","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=10554","title":{"rendered":"Public Housing Residents Learn \u2018Art Of Cooking\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY GWEN HAYES<\/strong>
\nSentinel Editor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chef Eric Holland<\/strong> loves what he does. Anyone who knows him and the business he is in, knows that he loves his career \u2013 cooking and catering.<\/p>\n

There have been several occasions where Holland<\/strong> has had the opportunity to share his skills with students. He has taught cooking classes to several of the area\u2019s schools and technical schools.<\/p>\n

There is a different excitement now, however, when he talks about the students in his class from North Boulevard Homes.<\/p>\n

Chef Eric<\/strong>, as he is known, received an extension on a grant that he received from the Tampa Housing Authority to provide cooking classes for qualified residents.<\/p>\n

Currently, he has 10 students, who he says are very dedicated to the classes. They range in ages 18-61. Last Tuesday, October 4, 2011, classmates served their signature meal to invited guests.
\nSome of the community who stopped in were: County Commissioner and Mrs. Les (Gwen) Miller<\/strong>, Judge Perry Little<\/strong>, Hakim Aquil<\/strong>, Jarvis El-Amin<\/strong>, Rev. Willie Dixon<\/strong>, Dr. and Mrs. John (Molbert) Scrivens<\/strong>, Michael Reeves<\/strong>, Danny Green<\/strong>, Sol Davis, Sr.<\/strong>, Sol Davis, Jr.<\/strong>, Olivia Brown<\/strong>, Eddye Hankerson<\/strong>\u00a0Gloria Andrews<\/strong> and Frank Crum<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Classes are held Tuesday through Friday at E. V. E.\u2019s Catering, 3311 W. Cypress St., 8 a. m. until 2 p. m.<\/p>\n

In addition to learning the basic cooking and food preparation skills, the class is also taught basic dining room skills. Elliott Burt<\/strong> has worked with Chef Holland<\/strong> for several years. He is a local Ma\u00eetre and provides 2 sessions during each 6-weeks session of classes.<\/p>\n

Holland<\/strong> credits the cooperation of Mrs. Stephanie Brown-Gilmore<\/strong>, who is in charge of Program and Property Services of the Tampa Housing Authority, with helping him to get the program started for the residents.<\/p>\n

After completing the classes, there is an opportunity for the students to become gainfully employed.<\/p>\n

A Tampa native, Holland<\/strong> earned his high school diploma from Jefferson High School, while working at several restaurants along the way. He went to California for a period and studied under a French Chef. Holland<\/strong> also studied at Johnson & Wales University, taught at Tampa Bay Tech for 4 years, and worked in the prison system for 4 years.<\/p>\n

Holland<\/strong> reopened his business, E. V. E.\u2019s Catering in 2008. The restaurant currently offers an all-you-can-eat Sunday buffet, 11 a. m. \u2013 4 p. m.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re trying to teach these young people the importance of providing a comfortable atmosphere for their customers. We\u2019re looking for support from the community, where our service is the utmost in a professional atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n

A member of Mt. Tabor M. B. Church, Holland<\/strong> quickly reminds that he doesn\u2019t do it all alone. His 13-year-old daughter, Erica<\/strong> helps with much of the technical equipment. His wife, Vandelon<\/strong> and his mother, Jean Tim<\/strong> also assist in the business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY GWEN HAYES Sentinel Editor Chef Eric Holland loves what he does. Anyone who knows him and the business he is in, knows that he loves his career \u2013 cooking and catering. There have been several occasions where Holland has had the opportunity to share his skills with students. He has taught cooking classes to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10554\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}