Support Mike Young's Journey to Culinary Success

I’ve been working as a cook for the last 10+ years in Southeast Ohio. In many ways this has been wonderful. I discovered my passion, and pursued it with more determination than I’ve felt in any other line of work. I’ve learned many things, challenged myself, grown, faced setbacks, and challenged myself again. All along this path, my progress toward my dream of someday opening my own restaurant has been worth every sacrifice in personal relationships, connection with family, and all my other outside interests. I love cooking immensely, and I love cooking professionally even more.

But I cannot seem to get ahead. Sometimes the goals I am working towards seem even further away than they did yesterday. I’m barely making ends meet month to month. Unforeseen expenses always threaten to throw me into financial crisis. And each time I’ve tried to take a bold step forward an obstacle has come up that I couldn’t get around: plans to go to culinary school were thwarted by COVID; an opportunity to relocate to northern Michigan to take a job offered to me by a high-end fine dining restaurant evaporated when I couldn’t secure housing. Talking to my brother, who works as a maritime engineer, I realized I was feeling more and more discouraged and stuck.

Noticing my discontent, my brother began telling me about his life as an engineer aboard the University of Alaska’s research ship, and in particular about the stewards (cooks) he had met on board: their food experiments, their themed dinners, the fun the crew had together. He even helped me get some information about their pay and benefits. It all looked good, but something was holding me back..

The training I’d need to qualify for the kind of position we’d discussed is available, and relatively nearby at the Chicago Maritime School. And the cost of tuition, room and board, and materials (around $3,000) is reasonable–though unreachable on my current budget. If I could find a way to do it, I’d be in a position to enter a field that could get me back on track to open my own restaurant. I’d be able to cover my expenses, improve my credit, afford a few more essentials, and still build a nest egg to launch my dream business.

I see GoFundMe as a way to get things done together that you can’t get done alone. If you could help me get this done, it would mean the world to me–and maybe, by lifting me up and setting me on the path to my dream, it might mean the world to the next person who asks, when I have more to give. Anything you can donate is much appreciated. And someday, maybe I can help someone else do the same thing I am trying to do now.

-Mike Young