By Becky Maxedon

There’s something cooking over at WAVE (Western Arizona Vocational Education) culinary and hospitality program.

Several Lake Havasu City food trucks arrived at WAVE Monday to raise funds for the program.

The WAVE culinary program is part of the vocational training provided where students get hands-on training for a career in the restaurant and hospitality industry.

Thomas Vandergrift, culinary instructor at WAVE, said he and other staff members have been working to bring added value to the program.

“We wanted to add value to the program, so we have a Monday demo, speakers, etc. So, we had Steve (Rangoussis) come in,” Vandergrift said.

Rangoussis is with the local food truck Stoney’s Grill.

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“In Steve’s case, he came down with the trucks and talked about the business,” Vandergrift said.

“He talked about the difference between brick and mortar and trucks. They (students) came out here. They inspected the trucks. They got to actually see the business up close,” Vandergrift said.

“We’ve been working with the WAVE program for about the last six months – with the students. We talked with the students and taught them about the difference between brick and mortar and food trucks.

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“We went over the operations and all the back-end stuff that it takes to be self-employed or to work in the food industry. I come from both the back end and from trucks,” Rangoussis said.

“We came a couple of times – me and a couple of other owners and judged a couple of their competitions and then I sat down with them and said what if I got a couple of food trucks to down here and have the kids – from start to finish – put a menu together. Do everything.

“We’ll donate the ingredients and the vehicles. They can come here and operate them themselves and the money they make goes right back into the WAVE program. That’s what we’re doing here tonight,” Rangoussis said.

“Instead of just having Steve come, why don’t we just have an event and one thing led to another. We planned it out,” Vandergrift said.

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“We just want to have an event on a Monday. We had about 170-175 people here tonight,” he said.

Vandergrift said they would like to do it more often – maybe once a quarter. He hopes to add more events and other value-added activities to the program.

“We want to do it over and over again. The kids love it. They have a great time. They take ownership of it. The marketing, the preparation. Of course, the cooking. That’s awesome. There’s great value to that,” he said.

The students raised $3,110 for the program.

In addition to Stoney’s Grill, El Chappo, Pick Your Potion Coffee Co., and Stubby’s food trucks participated Monday.

The students – members of the FCCLA – Future Community Crew Leaders of America – will compete with other culinary programs in about 30 days in Tucson at La Paloma Resort.

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Another fundraising project they are working on is a pizza sale that takes place Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“You can pre-order a pizza any time before Thursday, or you can show up that day and order a pizza,” Vandergrift said.

Pizzas are $20 for a15-16-inch pizza with each additional item (pepperoni, sausage, pineapple, etc.) $1.

“Last year we raised about $2,500 to put back into the WAVE Program,” Vandergrift said.

“We’re getting to the end of the year when we have all the competitions. We love it because there’s such camaraderie and this program produces scholarships – you can cook for your family but what’s really profound is you make friends. The smiles on their faces – that’s what’s important to me,” he said.

WAVE is located at 1540 S. Palo Verde Drive.

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