Feed the people
"the child is the father of the man"
- William Wordsworth
Kevin McGee is originally from a small agricultural town in Missouri. Growing up in this small rural town of only 2,000 people, thoughts of prosperity and success were not commonplace. Kevin remembers walking across train tracks that literally separated the rich residents from the poor ones.
But while Kevin's pockets were empty, his family made sure that his mind and heart were full of dreams of a better life. Kevin has always pursued these dreams and has held executive and senior management positions in corporate for-profit and non-profit organizations across the country.
Kevin is also an accomplished author and entrepreneur having started his first business at 23-years-old. Over the years he has had successes and failures in business and in life. But he has learned to recognize opportunities, overcome obstacles, deal with failures, and embrace success; learned lessons that he loves to share with others.
"We spend most of our team being the person that the world want's us to be. And not the person that the world need us to be"
- Kevin McGee
Shortly after graduating from Morehouse College, Kevin began a career in the banking/finance industry. He then went on to become an entrepreneur, certified executive chef, corporate executive, board trustee. He has held positions of perceived prominence and success.
But Chef has learned that those things do not define him. What he has done is not necessarily who he is.
In 2015 Chef Kev's oldest daughter was 12-years old she was diagnosed with Wilms Tumor, a rare form of Kidney Cancer. This was a challenging time for his family and through this experience, Kevin found out who he really was. A man with a mission. And that mission is to "Feed The People."
Sidenote, Kevin's daughter is doing exceptionally well and enjoying her best life as a college student!
"The true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit."
- Nelson Henderson
Growing up in the country around farms and food taught me an important lesson. You can never sow the seed and reap the harvest in the same season.
When approaching the challenges around plant-based food, nutrition and educating people on both of these, it's important to remember that this effort is multi-generational one. It's going to take time and great effort to sow the seeds that will ultimately reverse the effects of systematic racism, classism, and elitism that have set the stage for the food and health equity disparities that we see in this country. But Chef and the team are prepared for the challenges that they may face.
Kevin believes that we should sow many seeds in many places. Thus he is an engaged member of his community. He has served on the board of trustees for Morehouse College and the Morehouse School of Medicine. He is affiliated with a number of charitable organizations including Big Brothers and Big Sisters, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and CURE Childhood Cancer.
TESTIMONIALS
“I really like making avocado salsa. I didn’t think anything so green could taste so good.”
Amayra
Student
“Working with Urban Oak and their plant-based cooking program was very eye opening for our students.“
Angela
Program Director
“I eat a lot of fast food, but if my mother cooked more food like this I would eat it.”
Michael
Student
“I never heard of veggie meat crumbles in tacos. They taste just like ground beef. They're good!”