VANDALIA — George Hawthorne’s cooking career came full circle, which is ironic considering his 1981 Southwestern Michigan College degree is in computer science, and his subsequent bachelor’s degree from Indiana University South Bend is in personnel and industrial management.

For 26 years, the Vandalia native has been with REAL (Resources Enriching Adult Living) Services, which last September introduced The REAL Grille food truck. Besides being responsible for serving 1,100 meals every day through 30 Senior Nutrition Centers, his private, non-profit agency also provides catering options.

REAL Services was established in 1966 through the Older Americans Act, part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “Great Society” initiative that funded critical services to keep older adults healthy and independent.

“It was written by John Brademas (South Bend Congressman, 1959-1981). REAL Services piloted the programs, so in 1968 we opened the first nutrition site in the country and, simultaneously a Meals on Wheels program,” Hawthorne said. “We’re actually three agencies.”

REAL Services is an umbrella over more than 20 programs assisting elderly, disabled and low-income individuals in 12 northern Indiana counties. Programs address education, nutrition, self-sufficiency and protection for 30,000 people in northern Indiana.

Hawthorne, director of nutrition and transportation, grew up the seventh of eight children, helping in the kitchen if he wanted to eat. Since his father and brother were chefs, Hawthorne considers himself a “cook.” Another brother, known professionally as Hawthorne James, acted in “Speed” with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, “Se7en” with Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, “ER” and “NYPD Blue.”

“As soon as I could reach the stove, I was up there mixing, like everyone else,” the 1976 Cassopolis graduate said. “I was going to go into architecture because I took mechanical drawing all four years of high school. I was going to take drafting at SMC, but my sister was taking a computer class. I got interested in that looking at her book. I ran a computer system for an aircraft company in Benton Harbor called Aircraft Components for four or five years. I also did data entry for Stanz Foodservice. When I left Stanz, I ended up going back to school, getting my bachelor’s, taking one or two classes at a time while working fulltime. I’ve lived in South Bend since 2012, [when he married Christine.]”

“When I graduated, unfortunately, there was an economic downturn,” Hawthorne said. “Everybody was being laid off. I couldn’t find an HR job to save my soul. This was 1990 or ’91. I took a job at Sears, then (REAL Services) called [in 1993.]”

At the time, he had been sending resumes to potential employers, but REAL Services called “out of the blue. They were not on my list. I have no idea how they got my resume. It was meant to be.”

Hawthorne said the $160,000, 20-foot food truck was suggested during a presentation to a University of Notre Dame business class.

“We were doing catering already,” he said, “so we took their idea seriously and ran with it. A board member made it her mission to talk to business associates and raised every dime to get that food truck built. The community donated it. This was our first summer on the street, and it went really well.

“There are 19 people in the kitchen here. I have 12 individuals in transportation. For the entire agency, we have over 200 full- and part-time employees. The good thing about our food truck, as well as the catering service, is we have a menu you can choose from, but if you want something different, we have the talent to fix just about anything.”

Hawthorne said his love of cooking started young.

“My father, who had been a chef in Chicago, taught us all to cook,” he said. “I think three of my brothers worked for Diamond Harbor Inn [in Cassopolis.] As a kid, I watched The Galloping Gourmet and fooled around [with Graham Kerr’s recipes], but had no desire to do anything with food service until that fluke brought me here. With degrees in computer science and HR, that’s where I thought I was headed, but the good Lord said, ‘I’ve got something else for you to do.’”

As a teen, Hawthorne worked in food service with the village of Vandalia, so he said now working with food trucks is a way of coming full circle.

“When I was a teen, I worked for the village of Vandalia and Mayor John Cooper through CETA [Comprehensive Employment and Training Act President Richard Nixon signed into law at the end of 1973 to consolidate job-training programs]. I cut grass in the morning and went to the village hall in the afternoon,” he said. “They served lunch to seniors through a congregate meal program, so I helped and cleaned up afterward for a couple of years before college. It dawned on me when I got this job that I’m doing what I did as a teen. I’ve come full circle.”