The People Behind the Kitchen!
This page introduces one of the people behind Boarding Axe Kitchen. While the organization operates collectively, its work is carried out by individuals who bring distinct skills, experience, and perspectives to our mission. These biographies are provided to recognize those contributions, offer transparency in leadership and operations, and reflect our belief that community impact is built by people, not abstractions.
About Matthew
Matthew Walker founded Boarding Axe Kitchen and serves as its Executive Director. He has been with the organization since its inception in 2023. His philosophy is grounded in a servant-leadership model shaped by his years as a firefighter/EMT and Rope Rescue Technician until he retired medically from that line of work.
Matthew believes that leadership only works when it is grounded in firsthand competence. In his view, a command structure functions best when its members can step into the roles above and below them, a perspective shaped by both emergency service’s Incident Command structure and professional kitchen systems utilization of the French Brigade system. A chief that can’t roll hose or a chef that won’t wash dishes doesn’t have enough respect for the other persons serving in those roles
At Boarding Axe Kitchen, that belief has meant doing the work directly. Matthew has served in every operational role, including butchery, baking, cooking, dishwashing, bartending, service, and hosting, along with producing the organization’s written, photographic, and video content.
Outside of Boarding Axe Kitchen, Matthew works professionally as a regulatory consultant and technical writer with Medical Device Academy. He graduated with Honors from Keiser University in 2016 with an Associate’s degree in Fire Science, and in 2025 graduated summa cum laude from Champlain College with a 4.0 GPA in Computer Forensics and Digital Investigations. This independent professional work provides his personal income and allows him to serve the organization in an uncompensated leadership role. He is also a member of multiple honor societies including Omicron Sigma Sigma’s Order of the Sword and Shield for protective service disciplines, as well as the Alpha Sigma Lambda and Omega Sigma Nu honor societies. He also claims that he “probably isn’t the worst Python coder, but no guarantees” and is around A2 in French on a good day.
His guidance in the kitchen is grounded in practical culinary experience as well as organizational leadership. He holds a Meat Cutting certificate from Vermont Technical College and previously worked in multiple Residential Care kitchen operations, where cooking involved large-scale meal preparation, food safety compliance, dietary accommodation, and direct service to residents. The role required balancing production cooking with elements of service, ordering, and day-to-day kitchen operations. This background informs his hands-on approach at Boarding Axe Kitchen and reinforces his belief that leadership should be rooted in firsthand understanding of the work and respect for not just how the role, but how the person fulfilling that role helps the organization as a whole achieve its mission.
About This Work
Boarding Axe Kitchen is a Vermont-incorporated nonprofit organization. Board members are not compensated for their service.
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Our work follows a simple principle we call Food Supporting Food. Recipes, stories, and educational content are created and shared publicly, generating awareness, skills, and engagement. Over time, that content supports real-world community meals, food access efforts, and hands-on service.
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This Content-to-Community Impact Loop ensures that what is learned, documented, and shared in the kitchen is returned to the community in the form of nourishment, dignity, and opportunity.