Zynodoa, "the Valley's Best New Restaurant"

The Center for faith-based and community learning located in Charlottesville, Virginia proudly served Executive Chef James Harris and part of his staff in our first food safety class at the Center for Nonprofit Excellence this month.CNE is located at 1701-A Allied Street here in Charlottesville,Va.

Chef Harris is the Executive Chef at Zynodoa Restaurant www.zynodoa.com in Staunton,Va ,"the Valley's Best New Restaurant". The Chef places a lot of importance on "eating local" and when ever possible uses local vendors. Everything is "made from scratch" with a personal touch that keeps the customers coming back for more.

The Zynodoa Restaurant owner's commitment to excellence and food safety did not begin with Chef Harris. They have been clients of RBCI for a few years now, sending folk to get ServSafe@ Certified above and beyond the VA state law requirements. We look forward to driving over the Blue Ridge mountains to Staunton to taste the fine cuisine at Zynodoa.

Prince William County Schools / Food Safety is Job #1

The Center for faith-based and community learning located in Charlottesville, Virginia recently served an employee from the Prince William County School System. This was a one on one class since there was only the one person signed up. Our policy is to never cancel a food safety class as long as there is anybody registered.

What impressed me most says's Chef Ralph is the "absolute since of dedication to excellence" of this one employee. She missed the regular exam with her fellow employees although she attended the classes with them. She went online and found the nearest class to Culpeper, VA where she lives and signed up.

On Saturday the day of the class she had paid for the class herself, had to get up early, drive forty miles, and stay all day for the same stuff she had studied for weeks. However, at the end of the day the results payed off with a final exam score of over 90% on her test. She score 100% in every area except two, and those were still close.

With that kind of dedication and commitment, I would have no problems with her as the Food Service Supervisor, baking bread at my kids school. Which I was also surprised to find PWCS also prepares their own food on site and uses local produce. This is just another reason why "Virginia" is such a special place to be.

Salad Creations a great success & ServSafe@ Certified

The owner of the Salad Creations Restaurant in Harrisonburg drove to Charlottesville last month for the food safety class offered by RBCI,the Center for faith-based and community learning. We are proud to add them to our list of clients, especially because of the strong corporate culture centered around eating healthy.

Over the years we have had many opportunities to serve clients like Salad Creations and Whole Foods Market. Whole Foods certified a dozen people through our class a few years ago and now does all of their training in house. We are glad to have had the privilege to get started with them on the right side of the food safety issue.

Also from Harrisonburg was a young lady who was completing her Hospitality Management degree requirements and taking the ServSafe@ class to get her degree. No matter what the reason, we are glad to help in anyway to make sure food is served safely. So, as is our motto: "we serve our very best, one client at a time".

RBCI / new members of the Center for Nonprofit Excellence

The Center for faith-based and community learning located in Charlottesville, Virginia now has membership status in the Center for Nonprofit Excellence. We consider this to be a great opportunity for our staff,clients, and board members. They will gain access to a vast amount of information in a one stop environment via the many seminars and workshops offered every month by CNE.

More importantly having the privilege of holding our food safety classes at the CNE conference space at 1701-A Allied Street is an absolute blessing. Great networking opportunities are available with the many non-profits and clients there. One on one advise is also given whenever their staff and/or volunteers can help.

The ServSafe@ Food Safety class is scheduled for once a month; for information go to www.servsafe.com, or call Chef Ralph at 434-806-9762. This is a one day class with the exam given at the end of the day. Discounts are available for non-profits and low income persons through a grant from the Bama Works Fund at the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation.