Weitsman donates $100,000 to Rescue Mission project

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Rescue Mission Alliance will use a $100,000 donation to help renovate its Clarence L. Jordan Food Service and Culinary Education Center.

Adam Weitsman — CEO of Owego–based Upstate Shredding-Weitsman Recycling, a restaurateur, and philanthropist — made the donation, the Rescue Mission said in a Friday news release.

The center is a charity facility that serves three meals a day to people in need and offers food-service industry training to help its patrons secure “well-paying” jobs.

The renovations are currently about 75 percent complete, and the new dining hall will be named after Weitsman’s three daughters — Clover, Rae and Monroe — to recognize his contribution.

The center in 2018 served more than 190,000 free meals to men, women, and children in need. Three meals per day are served seven days a week, 365 days per year.

In recent years, the Rescue Mission Alliance launched the Capital Campaign to raise $185,000 to renovate the current food-service facility. With Weitsman’s donation, the center is only $85,000 away from completion, per the release.

Named after the organization’s past director who died in 2018, the new Clarence L. Jordan Food Service and Culinary Education Center is set to open in November. It’ll have enough dining space to accommodate “anyone in need,” the alliance said.

The center’s education component seeks to provide instruction in the food-service trade to “empower” those living in homelessness and poverty and to help them find employment opportunities.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com