Dear fel­low chefs, col­leagues, and friends,

In a few short months you will be asked to vote for the offi­cers who will rep­re­sent you in the oper­a­tion of the Amer­i­can Culi­nary Federation.

For the West­ern Region Vice Pres­i­dent, I would like to be your choice. As one of my sup­port­ers has stated “Your accom­plish­ments and com­mu­nity involve­ment cer­tainly indi­cate not only an inter­est, but you have walked the walk of pro­fes­sional sup­port and com­mit­ment.” Though I have these accom­plish­ments and involve­ment, it has not been easy. It has taken many years of work­ing hard, lis­ten­ing to oth­ers and then com­mit­ting myself to the task at hand.

I have fol­lowed the actions of the ACF for many years and have an under­stand­ing of what has been, needs to be, and could be accom­plished in the near future. With the help of many of my fel­low mem­bers in the West­ern Region we can move forward.

Though I have set forth my plat­form, we as Chefs and Culi­nar­i­ans have choices to make. To me there are many choices. Move ahead and adapt to the ever chang­ing needs of our mem­bers, or become stag­nant and remain the same. In the last few years the Amer­i­can Culi­nary Fed­er­a­tion has moved ahead, chang­ing its tac­tics in regards to its finances, using elec­tronic media to gets its name out to the world, chang­ing its meth­ods and poli­cies on cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, and much more.

To some this may seem that we are mov­ing too fast and leav­ing many mem­bers behind, and to be hon­est in my opin­ion we may be, but as the “Author­ity on Cook­ing in Amer­ica” we must strive to meet as many indi­vid­u­als’ needs as we can. There is no orga­ni­za­tion in Amer­ica that is a one size fits all.

In the book on edu­ca­tion “One Size Does Not Fit All” by Nikhil Goyal he states

“Every nine sec­onds, a stu­dent drops out of school. Why? For a major­ity, school was not rel­e­vant to them. The edu­ca­tion sys­tem isn’t bro­ken — it’s doing exactly what it was intended to do.”

We ACF mem­bers need to belong to a diverse orga­ni­za­tion, for the major­ity we need to be relevant.

WE NEED TO HAVE MEMBERS FEEL THEY BELONG!

We in the West­ern Region can do that.

By vot­ing for Carl­ton Brooks, West­ern Region Vice President.

Carl­ton W. Brooks, CCE, CEPC, ACE

Can­di­date for ACF West­ern Region Vice Pres­i­dent brooks.acfwestvp@gmail.com

http://www.brooksacfwestvp.com

Cell Phone: 602–739-5715

Mem­ber­ship Dues Must be Paid by March 31 to Vote in ACF’s Elections

ACF mem­bers will vote elec­tron­i­cally for the 2013–2015 board of direc­tors in May 2013. To be eli­gi­ble to vote, mem­ber­ship dues must be paid by March 31. To ensure eli­gi­bil­ity and to receive cor­re­spon­dence, update your con­tact infor­ma­tion, espe­cially your email address, at www.acfchefs.org, or call (800) 624‑9458.