When Aubrey Vahosky died on Aug. 29, 2021, the loss was felt by all who knew her. Vahosky was known as a bright individual that had an unbeatable passion and knack for cooking. The youngest and sole female among her siblings, she grew up as a resident of Canton and graduated from Plymouth High School. This was where she discovered her love of the craft and all it entailed. 

This young chef was a natural; she worked at several establishments where her service shined including Arby’s in Canton, Three Brothers Restaurant in Plymouth, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar in Livonia, Garage Grill and Fuel Bar in Northville and Takoi in Detroit. With all this experience, she had also recently been promoted to sous chef at Takoi. She was known throughout the Metro Detroit area as a skilled chef and shared her talents through all these establishments. Without her passion, the culinary community suffers.

As proud as she was to be an Ocelot alumna of the culinary program, her friend and Schoolcraft Nursing alumna, Elaine Gerou, believes that her true mission was to make others feel good. This was accomplished through cooking, which by all accounts, would often make people smile when they tasted her food, or by cracking a joke. If that wasn’t enough it would be her uplifting presence and energy that would inspire happiness. According to Gerou. All of this was done with an infectious smile of her own that she enjoyed sharing with others. 

“Aubrey has been one of my closest friends since we became teammates on Plymouth High School’s freshman volleyball team in 2009,” states Gerou. “We thereafter spent most of our free time together during our teenage years and have remained close friends since. Aubrey made good times great and bad times bearable. She was like a sister to me.” 

This type of relationship was not unusual for Vahosky who was also the best friend to Gerou’s younger brother, Nolan. The rest of the family loved having her around as well. Never a nuisance, Vahosky was always welcome and wanted at family parties. The feeling was mutual, and Gerou was welcomed with open arms into Vahosky’s family parties too. Throughout the years, they were both able to enjoy multiple Thanksgiving and Easter dinners due to their friendship. 

Gerou, saddened by the loss of her friend, created a gofundme fundraiser to honor the life of Vahosky. Her goal is to create a culinary scholarship to honor Aubrey’s life. She wants to share the love of cooking that Aubrey had by giving someone in need the extra push necessary to pursue a culinary career. With a goal of raising at least $10,000, these funds would help other young chefs follow their culinary dreams. Gerou states that a little bit of Aubrey will live on and help train future chefs through each of these scholarships.

“Please consider donating if you love eating delicious food, love cooking, love Aubrey or any of her loved ones, or just want to help someone out with funding their education,” states Gerou. “This scholarship fund is going to make a great difference in the lives of hopefully many future chefs. If you donate, not only will Aubrey and her family and friends be appreciative, but the students awarded will be appreciative as well.” She likes to believe that with the help of this scholarship, chance might have it so that an awarded student may one day make a meal for someone who had contributed to the fundraiser and it would all be because of Aubrey Vahosky.

At the time of writing, Gerou has raised $4,903 to continue her friend’s legacy.

To donate to this fund, please visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-gift-of-culinary-school-from-chef-aubrey?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cf%20share-flow-1&fbclid=IwAR3yvZzWPSR60UNVapiXlK5JM222BdS47l05cH3rOf_Yr4ccV4BnHTnIp70