Heiress Cooks Up a Way to Mentor Teens

Watching Nancy Schechtman sell 25-cent shirts and $2 pants at the Second Helpings thrift store in Ojai, it’s hard to connect her to one of the wealthiest families in America.

A lean hummingbird of a woman, Schechtman, 55, flits about her volunteer job with friendly panache, chatting over a good buy with one customer, graciously accepting a fresh gardenia from another.

Friends say it’s typical for Schechtman to use her retirement for good deeds instead of the garden lunches and tennis dates that could easily fill her days as the daughter of the late Zollie Frank, a Chicago businessman who built one of the largest fleet leasing companies in the United States.

Besides the thrift-store gig, Schechtman helps elementary school kids sharpen reading skills and gives time to the Ojai Music Festival, the city’s Youth Foundation and the Jewish Federation of Ventura County.

This spring, a national philanthropic organization took notice. Schechtman is among 25 older volunteers across the country -- selected from more than 200 nominees -- who were honored April 22 for their contributions at an awards banquet in Washington, D.C. The awards are administered by the National Assn. of Area Agencies on Aging and funded by the MetLife Foundation.

The nonprofit group congratulated Schechtman, an Ojai resident, for cooking up her latest brainchild, the PB&J; catering company.

Operated out of HELP of Ojai’s senior center, the culinary program doesn’t really specialize in peanut-butter sandwiches.

Its initials standing for People Bonding and Joining Together, the program brings together low-income high school students and seniors willing to serve as mentors.

Last fall, five senior/teen pairs chopped, braised and baked together in an industrial kitchen over eight weeks, learning such basics as basting, broiling and the correct way to serve meals.

There were bumps along the way, like the day two of the teens almost came to blows, Schechtman said. But for the most part, the students learned to take direction, bonding with their elder mentors along the way, she said.

Many of the seniors told Schechtman they got just as much out of the experience as the teens.

“I had one lady who spent her week taking care of her ailing husband,” she said. “She told me that coming to the class was the one bright spot of her week, the only time she smiled.”

A former caterer and chef, Schechtman designed the program with assistance from Lisa Meeker and Stephanie Wilk, who served as assistant chefs.

One goal was to provide the teens with skills that would help them find jobs after high school, Schechtman said. The students catered several affairs during the course, including a sit-down Thanksgiving dinner and an elegant brunch.

Subtle benefits emerged along the way, she said.

“Watch a family. Where do all the good conversations take place? In the kitchen, where people congregate,” she said. “It’s a natural place to be.”

The family-like atmosphere led to heartfelt talk by youths sporting black fingernail polish and punk hairdos, recalled Wilk.

“There were some really important conversations going on,” she said.

Philanthropy comes naturally to Schechtman.

Raised in the affluent Chicago suburb of Winnetka, her family has long been involved in civic and charitable causes. Her mother, Elaine Frank, was named to President Kennedy’s Commission on Youth, and her father served on the boards of several nonprofit groups.

In 2000, the Frank family gave $10 million to the University of Chicago to support scholarships for physicians and scientists.

Schechtman thinks of her privileged background as a reason to give to others. She recalls a carefree childhood filled with lavish dinner parties, good schools and exposure to the symphony at age 5.

“I grew up in an absolutely fabulous childhood environment, and there are too many children who don’t have that,” she said. “Volunteering is one thing I can offer. It was time to give it back to children who really need it.”