26 Pocatello students among 100 who receive scholarships from Amy’s Kitchen

POCATELLO — In 22 years, Amy’s Kitchen has given roughly $1.5 million in higher education scholarships to the families of its employees.

This year, 26 local students were named among the 100 recipients.

Cindy Gillespie, the company’s vice president of people, told EastIdahoNews.com that among the beliefs of Amy’s Kitchen is the idea that if it helps employees, it helps the business.

“We take care of each other; it’s one of our core values,” she said. “We are a family-owned company, and our owner believes in the people that work for Amy’s, and he especially believes that the people who make our product are essential to our success.”

Amy’s Kitchen in Pocatello goes so far as to have an on-site medical care center providing free-of-charge care for employees and their family members.

The scholarship program began in 2022, according to a news release from the company. The idea, Gillespie said, came from owner Andy Berliner’s search for ways to encourage and support those who made his company a success.

Daisy Martinez, one of the local recipients, said both her parents have worked for Amy’s Kitchen since the company opened its Pocatello plant about seven years ago. She told EastIdahoNews.com that Amy’s has always shown a great deal of support for her family through things like the scholarship program.

Martinez found out about the opportunity after she graduated from Pocatello High School in 2018. This year, she received her fourth scholarship check — totaling around $6,000 altogether.

“(Amy’s Kitchen has) helped me a lot during college with my tuition. It’s really awesome,” she said.

The application is available to any family member of an Amy’s Kitchen employee and can be filled out online. As Gillespie said, the first application must include an essay — most commonly about career aspirations.

All students are eligible for five scholarships, the amount of which is determined by a point scale.

As Gillespie described, points are awarded to each applicant based on things like grades, community service, extra-curricular involvement and whether the student is employed. There is also a “mechanism” within the point scale that makes the family members of employees on the lower end of the company’s wage ladder to receive more points and thus more scholarship money. Students who will attend private universities are also eligible for a larger scholarship than those attending a state school, community college or vocational program, Gillespie said.

Martinez is “privileged” to have her parents pay her tuition, she said. Still, the $1,500 she has received each of the last four years has helped her with necessities — like books and school supplies.

She is in a bachelor’s sociology program at Idaho State University and plans to pursue a career as a juvenile probation officer.

As she said, she has seen the path that making poor decisions can lead local youths, and she wants to do whatever she can to prevent them from making those decisions.

While she prepares for her spring 2023 graduation, Martinez is looking to create networking channels and collect resources. She is currently working in an internship program.

“I am also in a program — a family-recovery program — that helps with families who are struggling with addiction, who just want to increase their quality of relationships,” she said.

Martinez represents what Gillespie believes the goal of the scholarship program has always been — to help the company’s extended family improve its quality of life.

So far, Amy’s Kitchen has rewarded some 1,500 scholarships, with each recipient receiving their certificate directly from Berliner. For the company’s founder and CEO, it is a great source of pride that Amy’s Kitchen can have this sort of impact on the lives of his employees’ families.

“It’s so important to him. He’d never miss it,” Gillespie said.