Darrell Robinson

I dropped out of school early, but got a job at 16 through JFK’s Neighborhood Youth Corps, cooking in a kitchen.  I joined the Army, went to Vietnam, came home, and spent much of my life cooking at restaurants and hotels.

When I moved to Brooklyn, New York, I trained to be a substance abuse counselor.  But when I applied for a job in that field, I didn’t get it.  And at age 58, I found myself in a deep depression with lots of anxiety.  One night, coming home from a computer class, I walked by a neighborhood pantry and I went in, got a bag of potatoes and onions, and said “I’m going to make a pot of vichyssoise.”  That brought me back to my past and I got into a conversation at the pantry and they told me they were looking for volunteers.

That just blossomed into a lot of other opportunities for me.  It introduced me to the revitalization program in my neighborhood, Myrtle Avenue, and I trained with a program of community chefs, cooking and teaching with them.  Now I talk to seniors about eating and good health, high blood pressure and diabetes, and to take out the salts and sugars that affect those conditions.  When people come back later and ask me about healthy recipes, that brings me a great deal of joy.

All this has led to a per diem job at age 63 with the New York City Board of Education. I cook in the high schools as a demonstration chef with “From the Garden to the Cafeteria” classes.  Over the summer, the kids plant gardens, I help them harvest, write a recipe and prepare it.

I talk to senior men in my neighborhood and I say to them “Your kids are married and gone.  The wife is at the gym doing Pilates.  What are you going to do?”  I tell them to take the hobbies you found joy in as a child, learn more about those things, keep your mind and body active and moving forward.

Many seniors, by the time they reach my age, feel they deserve a break and rightfully so.  But there are some who are motivated, actively seeking change in their communities. I was a military guy and I still serve my country, but in a very small place, Myrtle Avenue. I feed my neighbors every day.

(Watch a video of how seniors in Darrell’s community are leading the fight for healthy eating.)