Franciscan Center spotlights Dignity Plates, nearly sold-out Plated fundraiser

The Franciscan Center put its Dignity Plates culinary training program at the center of its Plated fundraiser, using the event to show how a Baltimore kitchen can become a job pipeline, not just a source of meals. With tickets priced at $175 and the event nearly sold out, the fundraiser drew strong donor interest while underscoring the center’s need for steady support.

Dignity Plates is a 13-week, no-cost culinary program offered in Baltimore City, built around classic French techniques. That structure matters because it gives participants more than a volunteer experience or a one-time cooking class. It offers formal instruction, professional confidence and hands-on skills that can help people move toward work in food service and related hospitality jobs.

Chef April DuBose, the Franciscan Center’s culinary education director, is the program’s face and main instructor. The curriculum she oversees is designed to teach practical kitchen fundamentals while creating a path into employment, tying the center’s food work directly to workforce development. For Baltimore residents looking for a way into a stable trade, the program presents a concrete route: training first, then the possibility of work and income.

To give Plated extra visibility, the Franciscan Center brought in Rodney Scott, the pitmaster and James Beard Award winner whose name carries weight well beyond Baltimore. His presence added star power to the fundraiser and helped frame the evening as both a celebration and a serious fundraising push for the center’s mission.

The event supported Dignity Plates as well as the Franciscan Center’s broader community services, making the fundraiser more than a gala on the calendar. It pointed to an operating model that depends on outside support to keep food education, meal service and other assistance running in the city. Lunch service tied to the effort ran from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., giving the fundraiser a practical link to the daily work the center does.

For Baltimore, the significance is in the numbers and the model: a 13-week program, no tuition, $175 tickets, a nearly sold-out event and a recognizable chef helping draw attention. The Franciscan Center is not only serving meals. It is using food training to build a workforce pipeline that can offer stability, income and a stronger foothold in the city’s labor market.