Donna Cattano and Israel Simões Legacy Scholarship

The Donna Cattano and Israel Simões Legacy Scholarship offers support to deserving individuals who want to channel their passion for food into a culinary career, and whose vision extends beyond achieving their professional goals to how they can use their talents to contribute to the well-being of their community and improve the quality of life for the less fortunate.

About Donna Cattano and Israel Simões
Donna and Israel are kind, generous people who happen to be huge foodies and have a deep appreciation for those in the culinary field. They also love giving back in ways that make a meaningful and positive impact on the lives of others. This includes their scholarship, established at the CIA in 2025, that invests in the dreams of like-minded future chefs.
Donna discovered the joy of baking-from-scratch in her youth, which has led her on a sweet journey in life as a pastry chef at heart. She relishes the hunt for the best recipes and making them, and takes every opportunity to expand her repertoire through countless recreational culinary classes. Israel is a master of the barbeque and smoker. He is also an amateur sommelier who enjoys discovering, collecting and savoring amazing wines and spirits. By chance, they met ballroom dancing and fell in love by the end of their first rumba. Their romance percolated over a mutual love of good food and drink, cooking and baking together and, most especially, eating. They married soon after they discovered that the perfect meal was around each other’s company. To this day, they indulge one another and are always up for their next culinary adventure.

Donna and Israel are dedicated volunteers in their community, participating in activities around social justice issues and the environment. She is a retired marketing communications specialist, which gives her even more time to experiment with sweet concoctions. He has an entrepreneurial spirit and owns and operates two businesses.