Chefs Collaborate with Dallas 24 Hour Club on Cookbook to Support Addiction Recovery

Last year, when COVID-19 forced the Dallas 24 Hour Club to cancel their annual Dallas All-Star Chef Classic benefit dinner, they quickly had to come up with an alternative solution to raise funds for sober living.

Founded in 1969 by Lee Tillman, the name Dallas 24 Hour Club refers to the fact that their services are available to those suffering from alcohol and drug addiction 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Over the past year alone, Dallas 24 Hour Club has helped over 400 people get sober, find jobs and secure housing. The organization offers beds, meals and 12-step meetings for people over the course of six months. Recently, they purchased an apartment complex to help those finishing the program learn to live on their own as they adjust to their new lives.

Last year during the pandemic they created their first cookbook, Cooking at Home: A Collection Of Recipes Created By Dallas’ Top Chefs From Their Home To Yours. This year, the club is returning with a second collection of recipes called Cooking at Home Through the Seasons: A Collection of Recipes Created by Dallas’ Top Chefs from Their Homes to Yours.

“We have seen tremendous success with this program,” CEO of Dallas 24 Hour Club Marsha Williamson says. “We've seen no disappointments, but we really are seeing more and more that our program that we've put together, with high accountability and structure, is really working for people who are willing to seek help.”

For the second edition of the cookbook, set for release in November, Williamson enlisted chefs Sharon Van Meter (Beckley 1115) and Junior Borges (Meridian). Borges got involved with the Dallas 24 Hour Club at the beginning of 2021, noting that people close to him have struggled with addiction.

“I am so blessed to be a part of the board,” Borges says. “And I was honored to be asked [to contribute]. I felt [the cookbook] was a super cool thing that they had done last year, and they wanted to do it again. So I was super excited to be a part of it.”

Borges will contribute a special pork chop recipe for the book and Van Meter will contribute a French apple pastry. Other chefs on the line-up include Janice Provost (Parigi), Nikky Phinyawatana (Asian Mint), Joshua Boneé (Meddlesome Moth) and more.

“This is a great extension of our program,” Williamson says, “because it allows [our graduates] a better opportunity to learn how to live independently. With all of these wonderful things, including being able to provide more support for our people, making connections with Dallas chefs and making connections with our supporters, it really becomes a wonderful, synergistic, exciting engine that we've produced.”

In addition to tangible recipes, Dallas 24 Hour Club has also partnered with The LeCroy Center at Dallas College to film seven cooking segments featuring the chefs and the recipes they contributed. In the video segments, the chefs are assisted by students in the Dallas College program.

Van Meter expects the book will be a hit for the holidays but assures us that the 24 Hour Club is an organization worth our support year-round.

“A lot of times, when we do non-profits, you wonder where the funds actually go,” Van Meter says. “In the 24 Hour Club, you can actually see the progress they're making. And they use a majority of their money for their cause, housing and rehabilitation. It's not always our industry there, but it touches our industry.”

The cookbooks are available through their website; including last year's book and the 2021 cookbook, which is now available for pre-order and will be delivered by early November. You can also purchase both books in a bundle for a reduced price.