Childhood Hunger

Latest News on June 2010

June 30 Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade Life

IF THERE’S ANYONE WHO KNOWS ABOUT MAKING IT THROUGH TOUGH TIMES, IT’S SANDRA LEE. THE FOOD NETWORK STAR HAS HAD A LIFE FULL OF UPS AND DOWNS, BUT SHE ALWAYS MANAGES TO BOUNCE BACK BY SURROUNDING HERSELF WITH THE PEOPLE SHE LOVES MOST. READ ON HER HARD-WON WISDOM AS WELL AS HER TIPS FOR MONEY SAVING MEALS.

Redbook Magazine
by Mary Rose Almasi
June 30, 2010

Sandra Lee, the savvy host of Food Network’s Semi-Homemade Cooking With Sandra Lee, plops down in a cozy chair by a giant marble fireplace. She’s barefaced, her hair’s pulled back, and she’s wearing a purple shirt that makes her blue eyes even bluer. When REDBOOK asked Sandra to pick a favorite spot in New York City for the interview, this warm hotel restaurant was her choice. “This room makes me happy,” she explains when we meet. “And that’s the kind of room you should sit in. It’s cozy and intimate.”

It’s also full of chatty guests and piped-in jazz — which makes me worry that I’ll miss some of what Sandra says. But she plucks the tape recorder from my hand and holds it to her mouth so I’ll catch every word. It’s not a diva-like, take-control gesture; it’s a let’s-get-it-done, here’s-how gesture. And getting things done is what Sandra knows best. She learned early.

Sandra’s childhood was far from enchanted. When she was 2, her mother, Vicky, abandoned her and her younger sister Cindy, leaving them in their grandmother’s care. In Sandra’s memoir, Made From Scratch, she writes lovingly about her grandmother Lorraine, who taught her to embrace each day and the possibilities that tomorrow could bring. “She was very can-do, someone who would just steamroll ahead and make things happen,” remembers Sandra. “She showed me how things can be special and meaningful without costing a lot of money.” Lorraine also welcomed Sandra and Cindy into her kitchen, letting the girls help out whenever she baked for church bake sales or to make gifts for family and friends.

Sandra’s mother took her daughters back into her life when she remarried. She had three more children with her new husband, but the marriage was tumultuous and ended in divorce. Vicky’s depression eventually caused her to stop mothering her children. So at age 11, the oldest of five, Sandra found herself taking charge of the household and the care of her siblings. Needing to stretch their food stamps and welfare checks as far as she could, she learned to be creative with cooking and even decorating the house, all the while attending school herself.

The skills Sandra learned at 11 proved to be not only her family’s saving grace but also the foundation of her enormously successful career. Today, the 42-year-old’s Food Network show is top-rated, she’s launching a bimonthly lifestyle magazine in February, and she’s authored 17 books, including her latest, Money Saving Meals. After living through a divorce of her own, Sandra has found love with New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo. The couple have been together for three and a half years and share their lives with Andrew’s daughters, twins Cara and Mariah, 13, and Michaela, 11.

“Raising myself and caring for my brothers and sisters allowed me the benefit of a lot of information that I wouldn’t have otherwise gotten,” Sandra says. “I had to be frugal, thoughtful, resourceful. I didn’t have anyone to tell me, ‘You can’t.’ When you’re young, you think you can do anything, and that was really a gift. That’s why I can never understand someone telling me ‘no’ today. ‘No’ just isn’t an option.”

HER CHARITY WORK.
“The most important thing with charity work is that you do something that’s meaningful to you and what you believe in. One of the charities I focus my energy on is Elton John’s AIDS foundation. I admire him and everything he stands for. His charity helps children, too. The work he’s done…he’s just genius, and I don’t use that word to describe anyone. I also work with Share Our Strength, a national organization that benefits local food banks and helps feed children.”

June 29 Mission Foods Announces Mission Menus Challenge To Win $10,000 Kitchen Appliance Makeover For Best Budget-Minded Flour Tortilla Recipe

CELEBRITY CHEF SARA MOULTON PROVIDES INSPIRATION; SHARE OUR STRENGTH BENEFITS

PR Newswire
June 28, 2010

IRVING, Texas, June 28 /PRNewswire/ — Mission Foods^®, one of the nation’s largest tortilla manufacturers, is kicking off the summer with the Mission Menus Challenge on June 28, 2010. Celebrity Chef Sara Moulton, host of “Sara’s Secrets” on the new Cooking Channel and author of Sara Moulton’s Everyday Family Dinners, will encourage consumers to submit their budget-friendly recipes to Mission at www.MissionMenusChallenge.com for a chance to compete in a cook-off in Los Angeles and win a $10,000 kitchen appliance makeover as well as a host of weekly prizes.

“We all are looking for ways to stretch our food dollars and put healthy, delicious food on the table at the same time,” said Chef Sara Moulton. “The Mission Menus Challenge provides consumers with an opportunity to share their creative, budget-friendly recipes as well as offer the possibility of winning a fantastic kitchen appliance makeover. Plus there’s a great opportunity to support a tremendous organization fighting hunger in America - Share Our Strength^®.”

Recipe entries will be accepted on the Challenge microsite − www.MissionMenusChallenge.com − and are required to feature Mission Flour Tortillas. In Round One Judges will evaluate recipes based on the following criteria - 1) Degree to which recipe is ‘budget friendly’, 2) Creative use of Mission Flour Tortillas, and 3) Overall appetizing appeal of the dish.

“We want to engage people around the country to create and share their own recipes using Mission Flour Tortillas for the Mission Menus Challenge,” said Norma Rojas, Senior Director of Marketing for Mission Foods. “Mission Tortillas are soft, delicious, and are also an extremely versatile food that can be used at any time of the day - breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack and even dessert.”

A key component of the Mission Menus Challenge is the partnership with Share Our Strength, which is tied to the company’s Sustainability Initiative - “Today’s Mission for a Better Tomorrow.” The challenge will educate consumers about Share Our Strength, the nation’s leading nonprofit dedicated to ending childhood hunger and Mission Foods’ support of the organization’s No Kid Hungry™ program. It will also provide opportunities for Mission employee volunteerism throughout the nation and direct consumer support.

Throughout the summer, Mission Foods and Chef Sara Moulton will visit special events in select cities throughout the nation with a full Mission-branded mobile kitchen. Consumers will have the chance to sign up for the Mission Menus Challenge on site, sample Chef Sara’s creations, and learn more about Mission Foods, its products, and its partnerships. Mission will be in Atlanta July 4 at the Centennial Olympic Park’s 4th of July Celebration, in Dallas July 10-12 for the Taste of Dallas, in the Los Angeles area July 24 for the Orange County Fair, in the San Francisco area July 31 for the Fremont Festival, in San Jose August 14-15 for the San Jose Jazz Festival, and in Denver September 6 for the Taste of Colorado. A full schedule, including locations, is available at www.MissionMenusChallenge.com.

On August 16th, 10 semi-finalists selected by the judges and their recipes will be posted on www.MissionMenusChallenge.com in a random order for public viewing and voting. The five semi-finalists who receive the most votes during the voting period will advance to compete in The Mission Menus Challenge Cook Off at Hard Rock Cafe Hollywood on Hollywood Blvd on September 10th. Each finalist will be provided with round trip air transportation and hotel accommodations for themselves and one guest. In addition, weekly sweepstakes prizes will be awarded by random drawings to lucky consumers who participate in the online voting.

Judging the cook off will be Chef Sara Moulton, and representatives from Mission Foods and Hard Rock International. The grand prize winner of the Mission Menus Challenge Cook Off will be awarded the $10,000 Kitchen Makeover.

The Mission Menus Challenge campaign will be supported with all forms of communications including television and online advertising, a television special with NBC’s Al Roker, events, media outreach and the microsite www.MissionMenusChallenge.com. Visitors to the microsite will be able to create their own Mission Menus cookbook filled with recipes using all types of Mission Foods’ products. Official rules and eligibility are available on www.MissionMenusChallenge.com.

About Mission Foods

Mission Foods, headquartered in Irving (Dallas area), Texas and Gruma S.A.B. de C.V., a Mexican corporation, was founded in 1949, and is one of the largest tortilla manufacturers in the United States. Gruma S.A. de C.V. is the parent company of Mission Foods (Gruma Corporation) and is a leading Mexican producer of corn masa flour and tortilla products. It has operations in Mexico, the United States, Central and South America, Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit www.missionmenus.com.

About Share Our Strength

Share Our Strength^®, a national nonprofit, is ending childhood hunger in America by connecting children with the nutritious food they need to lead healthy, active lives. Through its No Kid Hungry™ campaign—a national effort to end childhood hunger in America by 2015—Share Our Strength ensures children in need are enrolled in effective federal nutrition programs, invests in community organizations fighting hunger, teaches families how to cook healthy meals on a budget, and builds public-private partnerships to end hunger, both nationally and at the state level. Working closely with the culinary industry and relying on the strength of its volunteers, Share Our Strength hosts innovative culinary fundraising events and develops pioneering cause marketing campaigns that support No Kid Hungry. Visit Strength.org to get involved in the No Kid Hungry campaign.

About Hard Rock International

With a total of 165 venues in 52 countries, including 132 cafes and 14 Hotels/Casinos, Hard Rock International is one of the world’s most globally recognized brands. Beginning with an Eric Clapton guitar, Hard Rock owns the world’s greatest collection of music memorabilia, which is displayed at its locations around the globe. Hard Rock is also known for its collectible fashion and music-related merchandise, Hard Rock Live performance venues and an award-winning website. In addition to the two flagship Seminole Hard Rock Hotels and Casinos in Tampa and Hollywood, Fla., Hard Rock Hotels/Casinos are located in Las Vegas, Biloxi, Orlando, Chicago, San Diego, Pattaya, Bali, Macau, Penang and Singapore. Additional hotel and casino projects have been announced in Punta Cana, scheduled to open in 2010; Panama, scheduled to open in 2012; and Hungary, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, scheduled to open in 2013. Hard Rock International is owned by Seminole Hard Rock Entertainment, Inc. For further details on Hard Rock Hotels and Casinos, visit www.hardrockhotels.com. For more information on Hard Rock International, visit www.hardrock.com.

June 28 Morimoto, Lefebvre, and Fox Are Among Meadowood's Holiday Lineup

THE RESTAURANT AT MEADOWOOD ANNOUNCED THE ALL-STAR LINEUP OF GUEST CHEFS FOR THEIR TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

Grub Street San Francisco
June 24, 2010

We know, we know… it’s way too early to start thinking about Christmas and even the word probably stresses you out right now. But just a teaser for those of you for whom it is still the hap-happiest season of all: The Restaurant at Meadowood announced the all-star lineup of guest chefs for their Twelve Days of Christmas Dinners. We thought you might want to know, given that these dinners are pretty special. Some of the chefs are traveling from far-off cities you don’t get to often, and Napa can make for a nice, countrified holiday retreat in the midst of a crazed December. Some of you like planning ahead, right? See the list below, and once again, you’re welcome.

Each dinner, which will take place between December 3 and 18, will feature pairings by a different Napa Valley vintner (that list, and the exact dates are TBA), and proceeds for the dinners go to Share Our Strength. If you have the means, you may want to just book a week at the resort during that time, and eat like kings every night…

The 2010 Twelve Days of Christmas Chef Line-Up

Masaharu Morimoto
Morimoto, Philadelphia, PA (and the soon to arrive Morimoto Napa)

Michael Mina
Michael Mina, San Francisco, CA

Linton Hopkins
Restaurant Eugene, Atlanta, GA

Ludovic Lefebvre
Ludo Bites, Los Angeles, CA

Mark Fuller
Spring Hill, Seattle, WA

Mathias Dahlgren
Mathias Dahlgren Grand Hôtel, Stockholm, Sweden

Nancy Silverton
Osteria Mozza, Los Angeles, CA

Roland Passot
La Folie, San Francisco, CA

Shawn McClain
Spring Restaurant Group, Chicago, IL

Jeremy Fox
Plum, Oakland, CA (not yet open)

Trey Foshee
Georges at the Cove, La Jolla, CA

Christopher Kostow
The Restaurant at Meadowood, St. Helena, CA

June 25 $1 Million to Feed the Hungry Seacoast Online

TASTE OF NATION HITS MILESTONE AT 16TH ANNUAL EVENT

Seacoast Online
by Amy Bevan
June 24, 2010

PORTSMOUTH — After 16 years fighting hunger throughout the Portsmouth area, Share Our Strength Seacoast, an all-volunteer hunger relief group, reached the $1 million mark with Wednesday night’s Taste of the Nation Portsmouth, a food and wine gala held on the lawns of Strawbery Banke Museum.

“We couldn’t be prouder and happier,” said Lori Decato, a founding member of the group. “We started out as a handful of people from a variety of professions who thought, if we pooled our talents and rallied our friends and neighbors, we might be able to make a difference.”

The sold-out event attracted 700 guests, all coming to sample the cuisines of area restaurants and enjoy beverages from more than 20 beer and wine purveyors. A silent auction and the live music of Hush, a seven-piece band from Boston, rounded out the evening. Wednesday night’s event raised more than $130,000. All proceeds will go to Share Our Strength.

Billy Shore, founder of Share Our Strength, a national program that raises money to fight hunger in children, attended the Portsmouth gala.

“This is one of our best events,” said Shore. “It comes at a time when the need could not be greater.”

Shore said one in four children are being fed with the help of food stamps, for the first time in U.S. history, due in large part to the state of the economy.

Shore was overjoyed by the success of Wednesday night’s event and the work of the local Share Our Strength group.

“This committee has stuck together for so many years,” he said. “They are known all over the area. It has a real home-grown, authentic feel to it.”

Footprints Food Pantry in Kittery, Maine, is one organization that benefits from the proceeds. Barbara Fernald, executive director, said she was thrilled with the support Share Our Strength Seacoast has given her organization over the years.

“It’s amazing what these people do,” said Fernald. “And they have a good time doing it.”

John and Debbie Sobczak of RAM Printing in East Hampstead, longtime corporate sponsors, donated their services. The family-owned business has a keen interest in supporting charities which benefit children.

“It’s just great to give back to the community,” said Sobczak.

Karen Logan, owner of The Blue Mermaid in Portsmouth, is an active board member of Share Our Strength Seacoast.

“It never ceases to amaze me,” said Logan, referring to the elegance and popularity of the Taste of the Nation event.

Rachel Hopkins of Portsmouth attended with her friend, Josina Garnham, of Durham.

“I have a young child,” said Hopkins. “Making sure children have access to good, nutritious food is important to me.”

Cameron Wake never misses the annual event.

“This has grown to be one of the premier events for Share Our Strength across the nation,” he said. “It’s a real testament to the community.”

Denise Wheeler, a Share our Strength founding member, said the event is continually supported by everybody, including business owners, guests, corporate sponsors and volunteers.

“It’s all about community.”

June 24 Renew School Lunch Program

SIX BILLION MEALS ARE SERVED EACH YEAR THROUGH THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (USDA) NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH AND BREAKFAST PROGRAMS.

Lexington Herald Leader
by Anita Courtney
June 23, 2010

Six billion meals are served each year through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs.

Unfortunately, due to the many pressing legislative priorities in Congress in 2009, renewal of the child nutrition programs was delayed for more than a year.

Given the importance of those programs to financially strapped Kentucky families and that they tackle the high rates of childhood obesity, their reauthorization should be next on the legislative agenda.

Hunger and obesity both can be caused by a lack of access to healthy food.

According to the USDA, over 200,000 children in Kentucky are hungry. In this economic downturn, our families need the child nutrition programs now more than ever. Health care costs due to obesity are about $1.2 billion per year in Kentucky alone — more than half of which is paid by taxpayers through Medicare and Medicaid.

Child nutrition programs provide a means to improve the diets of millions of American children, but additional resources are needed to increase school meal reimbursement rates, strengthen nutrition education to teach children good eating habits, and provide more technical assistance and training to improve school foods.

The two seemingly disparate but closely related problems — hunger and obesity — are addressed together in the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act.

That bill, which passed unanimously out of the Senate Agriculture Committee, would provide increased funding, including the first increase in school lunch reimbursement rates (above inflation) in more than 40 years.

This bipartisan legislation also would update the national school nutrition standards for vending and a la carte foods and finally get junk food out of all schools.

While Kentucky has been a national leader on this, most states have not addressed the problem. This once-controversial provision is now supported by a national coalition of health and education organizations and major food and beverage companies.

Chairman Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., and ranking member Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., exhibited bipartisan spirit, amidst the contentious political climate in Washington, to develop a strong bill that would help improve child nutrition and health.

Now, child nutrition must be made a top priority by Senate leaders Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Harry Reid, D-Nev.

The Senate must vote on and pass the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act this month, so that child nutrition improvements can be put in place for children by the next school year.

The health of our children can’t wait any longer.

June 23 Children In Philly Rely On Summer Meal Programs

THE RATE OF U.S. CHILDREN LIVING IN POVERTY THIS YEAR WILL BE AROUND 22 PERCENT - UP FROM 17 PERCENT IN 2006, BEFORE THE RECESSION BEGAN - ACCORDING TO A NEW REPORT BY THE FOUNDATION FOR CHILD DEVELOPMENT.

The Philadelphia Inquirer
by Alfred Lubrano
June 22, 2010

Seven-year-old Jilani Schenck awaited lunch with a hungry child’s demeanor: quiet, expectant, attentive.

“We don’t have a lot of food in the house - maybe some rice,” he said in a near-whisper as he opened a hot lunch at the Philadelphia Housing Authority’s Raymond Rosen Homes in North Philadelphia on Monday.

“I feel hungry a lot. It feels empty in me.”

As schools close for the summer throughout the country, millions of children like Jilani start showing up at similar summer-feeding sites.

This year, the federally funded program has generated controversy on the Internet after the radio commentator Rush Limbaugh last week derided summer feeding programs and suggested that kids dive into Dumpsters for food.

The rate of U.S. children living in poverty this year will be around 22 percent - up from 17 percent in 2006, before the recession began - according to a new report by the Foundation for Child Development.

At 19 Philadelphia Housing Authority sites, as well as at nearly 1,000 Philadelphia recreation centers, churches, schools and community centers, officials were just starting their summer battle against hunger on Monday.

Summer is the hungriest season in Philadelphia as it is elsewhere, because an estimated 150,000 public, charter, and Catholic schoolchildren who eat free or reduced-price breakfasts and lunches during the school year are cut off, advocates say.

Estimates by the state Department of Education and others show that the meals at these city sites will feed around 80,000.

That leaves around 70,000 children without free or subsidized meals.

Throughout America, more than 20 million students eat free or reduced-price lunches during the school year. But just one in six will receive similarly subsidized summer meals, according to the Center for American Progress.

In South Jersey, where more than 70,000 students are eligible for free and reduced-cost summer-feeding programs, there is little infrastructure in place to serve summer meals, advocates say.

Making matters more difficult, fewer people give to food pantries at this time of year because donors tend to believe that family food emergencies are cold-weather related.

Yet the number of people flocking to pantries in the area continues to increase, said Adele Latourette, director of the New Jersey Anti-Hunger Coalition in Englewood, Bergen County.

“There is so much hunger out here,” said Melanie LaBonte, 41, a Magnolia, Camden County, mother who was laid off from her job as an insurance agent in March. “People are hungry, struggling, searching.”

LaBonte, who has a 9-year-old son, said she will sometimes forgo eating, or eat just cereal for dinner, so her son can have something more substantial.

“It gets really scary sometimes,” she said.

Some people have a hard time believing that. During his program last week, Limbaugh complained about summer-feeding programs to his huge audience.

To help children find food, Limbaugh suggested they look inside “a thing called the refrigerator … and in … cupboards [where] you’re going to find Ding-Dongs, Twinkies… . If that doesn’t work, try a Happy Meal at McDonald’s. …”

Then he went on to say, “There’s another place if none of these options work to find food: There’s always the neighborhood Dumpster.” He added there are videos to help kids “Dumpster dive and survive until school kicks back up in August.”

Mariana Chilton, a child-hunger expert at Drexel University’s School of Public Health, said she was livid.

“What he said is calculated bigotry and - is there a word for hating children?” she said. “Fast food promotes obesity, and telling kids to jump in Dumpsters conjures the image of throwing children away.”

Chilton said she finds Limbaugh’s words especially galling given her research with Philadelphia women.

Of 40 women given cameras to document their lives, 38 took photos of empty refrigerators, freezers and cupboards.

“They told me how horrifying it feels to tell your children there’s no food,” Chilton said.

She added that while summer feeding is a short-term fix, the real solution is “paying parents living wages and giving low-income people access to credit to pull themselves out of poverty.”

Until that time comes, however, children like Bryan Hill, 15, of North Philadelphia, will be eating at places like PHA’s Raymond Rosen site.

“My dad is a construction worker, without steady work,” the boy said. “At times there’s just cups of noodles in the house. It feels good to come here to eat.”

June 22 Summer Means Hunger For Some Children

SCHOOL FREE LUNCH ESSENTIAL FOR IMPOVERISHED STUDENTS

The Epoch Times
by Shahrzad Noorbaloochi
June 17, 2010

Hungry children are not only in the third world. Look at the United States and you’ll find that, according to 2008 data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 1 in 4 American children lived in a household that struggled to put food on the table—that’s 16.7 million American children who live in a household with some level of food insecurity. Data from 2009 is expected to reveal an even grimmer picture as it was a tough year for American families hit with the worst of the economic recession.

During the school year, children suffering from such financial deficits are provided with affordable and reasonably healthy food through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), which works with schools to provide poor children with free or reduced-price meals.

The NSLP serves more than 31 million students in schools and residential child care institutions. About 19 million of those children eat free or reduced-price meals.

The beginning of summer spells bad news for such children as their access to school-provided meals is severed. Thankfully, there are programs such as the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), which provides children with access to food during the summer. However, these programs suffer from serious limitations.

According to a recent report by the Center for American Progress, “More than 31 million children benefit from the national school lunch program, 62 percent of whom receive free or reduced-price meals. But only one in six of these kids will receive a similarly subsidized summer meal during the summer months.”

Programs such as SFSP only reach a small fraction of the children who are in need, leaving a majority of them unaccounted for. Susan Acker of SFSP said, “In the summer, only … about 3.4 million, receive meals, either at summer school or through the Summer Food Service Program.”

Experts in the field of child psychology point to dire effects on children’s mental development from nutrition deprivation. Doctor David Shim, a clinical psychologist working with troubled and underprivileged children in Massachusetts spoke about such effects, saying, “There is ample evidence that food deprivation has long-term cognitive effects in a negative way.”

There are a host of reasons why these programs reach so few kids.

According to CFAP, one reason these programs are limited in their reach is a shortage in program sites. For every 100 schools, there are currently only 34 program sites providing food for children during the summertime.

The shortage observed could be attributed to the fact that such programs are struggling to find sponsorship from schools. Acker explains that SFSP is “vastly underutilized” because “Simply put, there aren’t enough sponsors and feeding sites in many of the communities with the highest need. Even though more than 20,000 school districts operate the National School Lunch Program in 101,650 schools and residential child care institutions, only about 8 percent of these school districts sponsor the Summer Food Service Program.”

The ability of these programs to reach kids who need them is also hindered by the fact that SFSP only operates in cities where 50 percent or more of the children are eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches.

“This is the most restrictive threshold in the program’s history and disproportionately hurts rural and suburban communities, which often do not qualify for summer meals because poverty is not as concentrated as in urban areas,” reports CFAP.

According to Shim, there also needs to be a greater amount of effort simply letting the public know about the presence of such programs in their communities. He said the country needs “Much more social policy that makes these programs more known to people.”

Considering that child hunger costs the U.S. economy around $28 million a year in “health care, lost productivity, education system impacts, and charity system expenses,” according to CFAP, changes in policy and improvements in current programs could be crucial.

June 18 Putting Sandra Lee's Lasagna to the Test

SANDRA LEE IS ON TOUR WITH CHARLIE THE TUNA, PROMOTING STARKIST TUNA FISH AND THE CHARITY SHARE OUR STRENGTH

New York Times
by Kim Severson and Julia Moskin
June 17, 2010

On Tuesday, the Food Network star Sandra Lee’s cooking — specifically her lasagna — took a public knock from her possible future mother-in-law, Matilda Cuomo, mother of the New York State attorney general and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo.

Ms. Lee’s lasagna recipe calls for two cans of condensed Campbell’s tomato soup and a container of cottage cheese. When a reporter from the news channel NY1 asked Mrs. Cuomo whether her son might prefer the tomato-soup version to his mother’s own, she dismissed the idea.

“That’s not how you make a lasagna,” Mrs. Cuomo said, gently (but firmly).

We took Ms. Lee’s recipe for a spin, and found that Mrs. Cuomo had a point.

Ms. Lee’s popular, cheery cooking style (read all about it at semihomemade.com) could be described as “all shortcuts, all the time.”

In her lasagna, described as her grandmother’s recipe and a treasured family heirloom in her book “Semi-Homemade Cooking 2,” a slurry of tomato soup (specifically Campbell’s), apple cider vinegar (Heinz), and dried oregano (McCormick’s) stand in for a long-simmered tomato sauce.

Ms. Lee’s lasagna is a breeze to put together, especially the shopping, which required only a brief pause in the produce section, for an onion. Pre-minced garlic, lean ground beef, noodles and a package of shredded mozzarella cheese round out the ingredients list. Tasters at the Dining section found the results “cafeteria-style” and sweet, even “ketchuppy,” but most of us agreed: we’ve had worse.

In a 1983 New York Times profile of Mrs. Cuomo, then a new resident, along with her husband, Mario, of the governor’s mansion in Albany, Marian Burros dwelled on Mrs. Cuomo’s lasagna but did not reveal details of the recipe. However, the fact that Mrs. Cuomo’s mother came from Messina, in Sicily, suggests that her meat sauce would likely be spicy, made with both pork and beef, and flecked with fennel seeds and fresh herbs.

Around the time Ms. Lee’s cookbook containing the recipe was published, she was being paid to promote various Campbell’s brands. According to a Campbell’s spokesman, she no longer has a financial relationship with the company. (She is, however, on tour with Charlie the Tuna, promoting StarKist tuna fish and the charity Share Our Strength.)

We’re awaiting a recipe from Mrs. Cuomo.

June 18 Chef Visits White House for Kids Program

OBAMA WANTS TO PROVIDE HEALTHIER FOOD CHOICES IN SCHOOLS, HELP KIDS BE MORE PHYSICALLY ACTIVE AND MAKE HEALTHY FOOD MORE AFFORDABLE THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.

Miami Herald
by Heather Dulman-Niccoli
June 17, 2010

When Shelley Nachum walked onto the South Lawn of the White House and listened to first lady Michelle Obama speak about nutrition, she realized what a huge leap she had made in three years.

The former professional résumé writer and career coach decided to switch careers and instead of helping others achieve their goals, she fulfilled her own dream of becoming a personal chef.

Here she was, sitting in the sixth row as Obama gathered support for her Let’s Move campaign June 4.

There were “hundreds of white jackets walking through the street to the White House,” Nachum said. “We were waiting in 95 degrees, 100 percent humidity.”

The wait was worth it, Nachum said.

“Oh, my God, I’m standing right here where they give speeches on the South Lawn,” she said she thought at the time. “It was surreal and exciting.”

Obama had issued a last-minute invite to all chef organizations and about 700 chefs around the country showed up at the White House’s South Lawn to launch the Chefs Move to Schools campaign, part of the first lady’s effort to prevent childhood obesity.

Nachum was the only personal chef from the South Florida organization, the U.S. Personal Chef Association, to attend the event.

“It all happened so fast,” Nachum said. “It was about a week notice.”

The program started with a breakfast forum on “Healthy School Healthy Kids: How Chefs Can Make a Difference,” hosted by Share Our Strength, an organization with the goal of stopping childhood hunger.

Obama wants to provide healthier food choices in schools, help kids be more physically active and make healthy food more affordable throughout the country.

She also wants to stop childhood obesity and childhood hunger.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and Let’s Make a Move online team is going to be responsible for matching chefs and schools starting this summer.

Chefs Move to Schools aims to pair each school with a chef who will help kids learn about the importance of a healthy diet.

Nachum plans to contact three local schools about the program’s goals. Her ideas include offering a salad bar with vegetables from a garden grown at school, offering a cooking class and relating food to subjects like history.

Food can be used to help teach the alphabet and “recipes help kids with math skills,” she said.

“We are all volunteers,” Nachum said. “Everything we do for this program will be from our own time and resources.”

She already makes it a priority to give back to the community and donates 10 percent of her sales to local food pantries.

Nachum, who lives in Delray Beach, owns her own personal chef service called Short on Thyme and cooks for customers in Broward and Palm Beach counties. She creates meals for families and singles who are too busy or tired to cook.

She goes grocery shopping for her clients, then brings her own pots and pans and prepares meals. She freezes portions and supplies cooking instructions. She also cooks for special events like wine tastings, a romantic dinner for two and holiday dinners.

Nachum said she realized a few years ago that she was “burned out… . I had this in back of my mind for a long time.”

Nachum, who had a passion for cooking, decided to attend the Culinary Business Academy in New Mexico.

Nachum said Obama’s program was a wake-up call to the problems of children who have poor diets, such as difficulty learning and lack of self-esteem and confidence.

Nachum would like to dedicate her time to elementary or middle school students.

“Kids see chefs as super heroes. If kids are engaged in learning where foods come from and participate in growing and cooking it, they will eat it,” Nachum said.

Nachum said one of the difficulties of this program could be getting menus changed at schools.

“I’m just starting out, and have a long way to go,” she said. “There is so much to learn. I start one thing and it takes me to another direction.”

June 16 Chefs Go To Washington

MORE THAN 700 CHEFS FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY CAME TOGETHER IN WASHINGTON EARLIER THIS MONTH TO HELP KICK OFF FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA’S “CHEFS MOVE TO SCHOOLS” INITIATIVE AIMED AT EDUCATING CHILDREN ABOUT HEALTHY EATING.

Nation’s Restaurant News
June 15, 2010

More than 700 chefs from across the country came together in Washington earlier this month to help kick off first lady Michelle Obama’s “Chefs Move to Schools” initiative aimed at educating children about healthy eating.

The “Chefs Move to Schools” program works to pair chefs with local schools to improve the meals served there and to teach students about food and cooking, according to information from the White House.

As part of the kickoff June 4, chefs attended a two-hour session—developed by White House assistant chef Sam Kass and Share Our Strength—in which panelists offered advice on how to get involved with schools.

The chefs also gathered on the White House lawn, where they listened to a speech by the first lady introducing the “Chefs Move” program.

“We created the ‘Chefs Move to Schools’ program, to pair chefs like you with interested schools in your local communities,” Obama said in her remarks. “And together, you’ll be helping students learn where food comes from, and develop healthy habits. You’ll be elevating the role of food in our schools, and working to create healthy meals on a budget.”

The “Chefs Move” program is part of the first lady’s “Let’s Move!” campaign, which was launched last year and seeks to end the nation’s childhood obesity epidemic.

View slideshow »

June 14 Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival Tickets On Sale Monday, Jun 21st!

FESTIVAL RAISES FUNDS FOR FOOD BANK FOR NEW YORK CITY AND SHARE OUR STRENGTH®

Business First
Jun 14, 2010

NEW YORK, June 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — WHAT/WHEN: Tickets for the third annual Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival presented by Food & Wine and Travel + Leisure magazines go on sale Monday, June 21st!

The Festival, which takes place October 7-10, 2010, is hosted by and benefits the Food Bank For New York City and Share Our Strength®. The third annual event features a one-of-a-kind line-up of chefs, winemakers, culinary personalities, and mixologists - including Restaurant magazine’s newly named number one and number three best chefs in the world Rene Redzepi of Denmark’s Noma and Heston Blumenthal of England’s Fat Duck, plus Peru’s Gaston Acurio, Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond, cookbook author and country singer Trisha Yearwood and master mixologists The Tipping Brothers; along with Food Network celebrities Paula Deen, Guy Fieri and Alton Brown among others. Plus, a variety of new events to complement all of the returning fan-favorites!

A complete line-up of events for the 2010 Festival is available at www.nycwineandfoodfestival.com. A taste of new and returning highlights include:

Meatball Madness hosted by Giada De Laurentiiskicks off the weekend with the return of the highly anticipated and hotly contended meatball extravaganza featuring over 20 of New York City’s best chefs competing for the People’s Choice Award sponsored by Pat LaFrieda Meats!

Grab the whole family and head to The New York Times Building for Milk and Cookies hosted by Martha Stewart with some of Manhattan’s favorite cookie bakers.

Tacos & Tequila hosted by Bobby Flay has the makings of another festival tradition with 20 chefs and culinary personalities, including Food Network’s Claire Robinson and Marcela Valladolid, putting their own spin on the classic taco.

Experience how the Festival really heats up after the sun goes down at Chelsea Market After Dark presented by Food Network hosted by Alton Brown - a complete takeover of Chelsea Market accented with wines from Georges Duboeuf.

Who more fitting to guide guests through New York City’s iconic street food culture than the king of unique food himself - Join Andrew Zimmern as he hosts Carts in the Parc.

The Blue Moon Burger Bash presented by Pat LaFrieda Meats hosted by Rachael Ray returns to the Tobacco Warehouse for the ultimate burger smackdown in the city. 2009 People’s Choice Award Winner Josh Capon of Lure Fishbar will be back to defend his title against some of the city’s heaviest hitters on the grill.

Tyler Florence hosts the first annual Ultimate Sandwich Showdown, part of Meatpacking Local presented by The Corcoran Group, in the DeBragga and Spitler Courtyard where guests will feast on New York City’s top sandwiches.

Don’t confuse your chopstick with the microphone when Iron Chef America’s Masaharu Morimoto hosts his first karaoke-themed takeover of the sushi world, Rock & Roll with Morimoto and Friends - A Sushi and Karaoke Soiree, with some of the city’s top chefs serving sushi and other fresh seafood bites.

The signature event that started it all in is back, and it will be “SWEETer” than ever with 30 participating restaurants and bakeries presenting their finest confections in la.venue - SWEET hosted by Duff Goldman and Sandra Lee.

Plus, don’t miss out on all of the Meatpacking Local events presented by The Corcoran Group as well as master classes, The New York Times “TimesTalks”, rare dinner experiences at The James Beard House, wine seminars, food and wine pairing seminars and cocktail clinics presented by Food & Wine and Travel + Leisure, and the grandest of all tasting events - the Grand Tasting presented by ShopRite!

WHERE: The public can begin purchasing tickets at 12:00 AM on Monday, June 21, 2010 online at www.nycwineandfoodfestival.com or beginning at 9:00 AM via telephone at 866.969.2933.

About the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival

The 2010 Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival is produced by Karlitz & Company and Southern Wine & Spirits of New York. Southern Wine & Spirits of New York is also the exclusive provider of wine and spirits at the Festival. Hosted by and benefiting the Food Bank For New York City and Share Our Strength®, 100% of the Festival’s net proceeds go toward helping these community-based organizations fight hunger.

About the Food Bank for New York City

Food Bank For New York City recognizes 27 years as the city’s major hunger-relief organization working to end food poverty throughout the five boroughs. As the city’s hub for integrated food poverty assistance, the Food Bank tackles the hunger issue on three fronts—emergency food distribution, income support and nutrition education—all strategically guided by its research. Through its network of approximately 1,000 food assistance programs citywide, the Food Bank helps provide 300,000 free meals a day for New Yorkers in need. The Food Bank’s hands-on nutrition education program in the public schools reaches thousands of children, teens and adults. Income support services including food stamps, free tax assistance for the working poor and the Earned Income Tax Credit put millions of dollars back in the pockets of low-income New Yorkers, helping them to achieve greater dignity and independence. Every dollar donated to the Food Bank helps provide five meals to New Yorkers in need. Learn how you can help at foodbanknyc.org.

About Share Our Strength

Share Our Strength®, a national nonprofit, is ending childhood hunger in America by connecting children with the nutritious food they need to lead healthy, active lives. Through its No Kid Hungry™ campaign - a national effort to end childhood hunger in America by 2015 - Share Our Strength ensures children in need are enrolled in effective federal nutrition programs, invests in community organizations fighting hunger, teaches families how to cook healthy meals on a budget and builds public-private partnerships to end hunger, both nationally and at the state level. Working closely with the culinary industry and relying on the strength of its volunteers, Share Our Strength hosts innovative culinary fundraising events and develops pioneering cause marketing campaigns that support No Kid Hungry. Visit Strength.org to get involved in the No Kid Hungry campaign.

SOURCE 2010 Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival

June 14 Rachael Ray and Members of Congress Speak About Importance of Bipartisan Legislation to Improve Child Nutrition

EARLIER TODAY, DAYTIME TALK SHOW HOST AND AUTHOR, RACHAEL RAY JOINED A BIPARTISAN GROUP OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO SPEAK ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF THE NEW “IMPROVING NUTRITION FOR AMERICA’S CHILDREN”.

Committee on Education & Labor
Mike Kruger
Jun 10, 2010

Earlier today, daytime talk show host and author, Rachael Ray joined a bipartisan group of Members of Congress to speak about the importance of the new Improving Nutrition for America’s Children. The legislation, which reauthorizes the Child Nutrition Act, will dramatically improve the quality of meals children eat both in and out of school and in child care settings, support community efforts to reduce childhood hunger and, for the first time, establish nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools. Nationally, one-third of children are either overweight or at risk of becoming overweight.

“We are on the brink of a national crisis with our children’s health. The barriers that prevent children from accessing quality meals mean more children are at risk of obesity and poor nutrition and this has serious implications for the health and well-being of the future of this country,” said Miller. “This legislation creates a nutritional safety net for millions of children who rely on the child nutrition programs by meeting children’s nutritional needs at every step along the way—in school, on the weekends and during the summer. Child hunger doesn’t take a summer vacation”

View videos and photos »

June 10 Chefs Answer First Lady's Call To Service

PROGRAM WILL HELP SCHOOLS IN EFFORT TO REDUCE OBESITY

Chicago Tribune
Jun 8, 2010

WASHINGTON— First lady Michelle Obama has proved just how quickly she can get chefs from around the country and across the world of food and cooking to come to the White House—and none of them had to spend a minute behind a stove.

In the last month, the first lady announced that she was creating the Chefs Move to Schools program as part of her national Let’s Move campaign, which is designed to “solve the childhood obesity epidemic within a generation.” By noon Friday, more than 500 chefs had gathered on the White House South Lawn, just up the hill from the thriving vegetable garden planted by the Obamas and used in the White House kitchen.

The first lady addressed the crowd in which celebrity chefs such as Tom Collichio, “Made in Spain” chef Jose Andreas, “Top Chef” finalist Carla Hall, Natalie Dupree and Food Network’s Anne Burrell blended into a sea of chef’s whites.

“One group that could have a tremendous impact on the health and well being of children within a generation is the nation’s chefs,” she said.

The event was a launch pad for Department of Agriculture efforts, as the program arm for the first lady’s initiatives, to bring chefs and schools together. Chefs are being encouraged to “Adopt a School,” and schools are being encouraged to “Adopt a Chef.” In coming weeks, chefs who sign up will be paired with a school in their community to help create more healthful menus. That will include Chicago chef Gale Gand, who came to Washington for the event, listened to the first lady and got a chef’s tour of the White House Vegetable Garden. Gand has signed up through the Chefs Move program on the USDA Web site to help Deerfield High School, where her son Gio will be attending in the fall. “I want them, but do they want me?” If they do, the Deerfield High School students may be in for a treat. “I’ve been packing school lunches for years, and I’ve put everything in there from pot stickers to my son’s favorite sandwich, ham and muenster with giardiniera — and his friends always want some too so I often pack extra for them.”

Earlier in the day, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan addressed the chefs at a breakfast and told them that his mother spent her career running an after-school tutoring program on the South Side of Chicago, and her first requirement was “feed the kids,” and they will learn.

Speaking about her experiences visiting schools that may benefit from Chefs Move to Schools, the first lady cautioned the chefs about the realities.

She asked them to be respectful to the “food service professionals” who will be key to being helpful. She said, “How would you like it if someone came into your restaurant and started telling you what to do?” The first lady also reminded the chefs to be practical and realistic, that the average school gets $2.60 per meal and only about $1 of that goes to food. “But as chefs, you can make a salad bar cool, and that is really something.”

The first lady also used her speech to emphasize the importance of the upcoming vote in Congress to reauthorize and fund the Child Nutrition Act, and she urged chefs get involved because funding for the program is essential to feeding kids in schools.

She stressed that one of her goals is to reduce the $160 million that the nation spends annually on obesity-related diseases. Using a technique that has become known in Washington as “grasstops,” she is tapping prominent chefs as the people most able to influence the masses on behalf of the White House. But success is also dependent on the continued efforts by such nonprofits as Share Our Strength, the Food Research and Action Center and others who have toiled in the fields of child hunger and nutrition for decades. Corporate sponsors also will help, including Campbell Soup, Quaker Oats and even Weight Watchers.

The first lady emphasized that Chefs Move to Schools “is not about Washington getting it done,” and pointed to every chef and the importance of the local community as being just as important.

June 9 Programs Bridge Summer Feeding Gap

Children’s learning isn’t the only thing that takes a hit during the long summer vacation. For many low-income children, school may be the only place they’re assured of a good meal, so summer can mean nutritional setbacks or outright hunger.

In Denver Times
Rebecca Jones
June 7, 2010

But thanks to a coalition of anti-hunger groups and the governor’s office, Colorado has launched an aggressive campaign to expand the Summer Food Service Programs offered at schools, churches and other venues around the state, and to publicize the availability of free meals in communities where the need is great.

More than 275 feeding sites have opened or will soon open for the summer, all offering free lunches and many offering free breakfasts as well for children aged 1-18. Adults are welcome to eat too, for a $3 charge. No registration or proof of income is required. The nutritionally balanced meals are funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Officials hope to feed at least 25,000 children in Colorado this summer, a dramatic increase from previous years. In 2008, only 15,000 Colorado children participated in a summer feeding program. But with more than 300,000 children in the state qualifying for free or reduced-price lunches during the school year, that put Colorado 46th in the nation in the percentage of low-income children participating in a summer program.

“Ninety-two percent of kids who qualify for food assistance don’t get it in the summer,” said Katharine Moos, program manager for the Colorado Campaign to End Childhood Hunger. “And with the economy the way it is, and one in five families experiencing food hardship, it’s safe to assume there are even more families out there who need this program.”

Connie Harlow, senior consultant and administrator of the Summer Food Program for the Colorado Department of Education, recalled an e-mail she got last summer from a woman running a day camp for children sponsored by the Salvation Army. The woman had asked one of the young campers what he liked most about the camp, which offered such amenities as trout ponds, soccer fields and paddle boats. “He said his favorite thing at camp was getting three meals a day,” Harlow said. “That just points out how lacking a lot of children are in getting the nutrition they need.”

Moos shares a story from a colleague in Texas who said one boy confessed to him that he deliberately failed his classes so he would be required to go to summer school because he knew at school he could get a meal. “That’s heartbreaking,” Moos said. “This little boy, to use wonky bureaucratic terms, was managing his food insecurity. But if that happened in Texas, where the rates of participation in summer food programs are about the same as in Colorado, then it’s happening here as well.”

Last fall, the Campaign to End Childhood Hunger was launched in partnership with Gov. Bill Ritter, Lt. Gov. O’Barbara O’Brien, the national anti-hunger organization Share Our Strength, and Hunger Free Colorado. The campaign has been working for months to recruit new sites and new partners to participate in the summer feeding program.

On June 2, Denver Public Schools - which operates more than 40 Summer Feeding Program sites - kicked off the summer by bringing in Denver Nuggets star Chauncey Billups and O’Brien to join youngsters having lunch at Eagleton Elementary School in west Denver. On the menu: pizza with whole-wheat crust and low-fat cheese, fresh fruit, vegetables sticks and milk. Government regulations require the meals to contain a minimum of 2 ounces of protein, a serving of grain, a serving of milk and ¾-cup of two different fruits and vegetables.

“At our height last year, when all the sites were open, our high day was about 14,000 kids,” said Bob Gorman, area food service supervisor for DPS. “After July 4, the numbers really die down. But during the school year, we feed between 40,000 and 50,000.”

Many of the schools and other meal venues run day camp programs for children during the summer. But officials stress that the meals aren’t limited just to children participating in those activities. “The program is set up for kid who don’t have a place to go and need something to eat,” Gorman said. “It doesn’t matter your income or your eligibility, if you can get there, we’ll feed you.”

Hours vary from site to site, but most serve lunch around 11 to noon, and those that serve breakfast generally do so around 8 a.m.

“In some areas, seniors like to go and eat too, because they’re getting a balanced lunch for less than $3, and they like to interact with the children,” said Harlow. “It’s kind of a win/win situation for everybody.”

Successful as officials have been in getting more feeding sites running in urban and suburban areas, rural areas still pose problems.

“There are some areas where children just don’t have the transportation to get from their home to where a summer feeding program may be located,” Harlow said. “People don’t sponsor sites in rural areas because kids can’t get there, so it’s a vicious cycle.”

June 8 First lady to chefs: "It's got to be a collaboration"

More than 500 chefs gathered at the White House today to join Michelle Obama’s newest effort to fight childhood obesity, Chefs Move To Schools.

The Washington Post
Jun 4, 2010

More than 500 chefs gathered at the White House today to join Michelle Obama’s newest effort to fight childhood obesity, Chefs Move To Schools.

The chefs, including national stars such as Rachael Ray, Tom Colicchio and Cat Cora, and an army of unknowns who work in restaurants, food banks and culinary schools, hailed from 37 states. Each has accepted a White House mission to adopt a school in his or her community and work with parents, teachers and cafeteria workers to educate children about food and nutrition. That might include developing healthful recipes for cafeterias, offering cooking lessons or helping a school to plant a garden.

“You are all at the heart of this initiative because if anyone understands nutrition and food, it’s the folks sitting here in their whites today,” Obama said, referring to the traditional chef uniform. “You know more about food than almost anyone - other than the grandmas - and you’ve got the visibility and the enthusiasm to match that knowledge.”

So far, nearly 1,000 chefs have signed on to the program, which was spearheaded by White House Assistant Chef Sam Kass. Obama said she hoped to inspire thousands more to get involved, one for each of the 95,000 U.S. schools.

But while she hopes to spark a grass-roots revolution, Obama was careful to caution the chefs that change would require patience. “Just like you wouldn’t be thrilled if someone came in your restaurant and told you what to do, we’re not asking you guys to go into schools and take over,” she told the chefs, who were sweltering under a hot sun on the lawn. Cafeteria workers are “going to need your support. But it’s got to be a collaboration.”

Chefs heard similar warnings at a two-hour morning session organized by anti-hunger organization Share Our Strength. A series of speakers, from Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and New York Public Schools Executive Chef Jorge Collazo to school lunch scholar Janet Poppendieck, spelled out the challenges in reforming the system.

For example, it might seem like a good idea to ask teachers to eat with their students, said Poppendieck. But many teacher union contracts specifically mandate that teachers get a break during lunch. Custodians, she noted, are paid by a separate department, so chefs might make enemies by bringing kids into a kitchen and making a mess.

“You’d never think of implementing a salad bar as guerrilla warfare. But that’s what it is. Kid by kid. School by school,” said Collazo.

Added Tony Geraci, the director of food service at the Baltimore City Public Schools and a former chef: “The world of restaurants and the world of K-12 food are different planets. Chefs who come to school food are going to have a hard learning curve.”

Chefs said they were undeterred by the hard work ahead. A team of Washington chefs has already begun working in city schools. The White House event included a who’s who of the city’s best-known tocques.: Will Artley of Evening Star Café, Kyle Bailey and Tiffany MacIsaac of Birch & Barley, R.J. Cooper of Vidalia and Peter Smith of PS 7’s, among others.

“Just show me which school needs me,” said Artley. “I’m ready to go.”

— Jane Black

June 7 ConAgra Foods Chef Volunteers for the First Lady's "Chefs Move to Schools" Initiative

Today, ConAgra Foods Sous Chef Evan Brockman joined hundreds of other chefs from across the nation on the South Lawn of the White House for the launch of Chefs Move to Schools.

OMAHA, Neb., (BUSINESS WIRE)
Jun 04, 2010

Today, ConAgra Foods Sous Chef Evan Brockman joined hundreds of other chefs from across the nation on the South Lawn of the White House for the launch of Chefs Move to Schools. This nationwide initiative, part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign, encourages chefs to work with schools to help ensure kids get the nutritious food they need to live healthy, active lives.

Chefs Move to Schools will leverage the momentum of Let’s Move! to focus on the positive impact chefs can have on schools in their communities. Led by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the program will pair chefs with participating schools in their communities to create healthy meals that meet the schools’ dietary guidelines and budgets, and to teach young people about nutrition and making balanced, healthy choices.

“As a chef and a native of Omaha, the Chefs Move to Schools initiative is a unique opportunity to give back to my community while helping ensure children in our area have a healthier future,”said Brockman. “By helping schools create healthier menus and programs that give children the tools they need for lifelong healthy habits, I believe chefs like me can make a real difference.”

Prior to joining ConAgra Foods, Brockman worked at Vita, a Denver, Colo., restaurant that specializes in creating dishes made with seasonal ingredients. This experience combined with ConAgra Foods’ work to reformulate kid-favorite foods to make them more nutritious will enable him to better help an Omaha-area school implement solutions that take into account the needs of the school’s students and the school’s resources.

ConAgra Foods was a sponsor of an educational panel hosted by Share Our Strength, the leading nonprofit organization ending childhood hunger in America by surrounding kids with the nutritious food they need to lead active, healthy lives. The panel is for Chefs Move to Schools volunteers. Hosted in advance of the White House event, Share Our Strength’s educational panel, “Healthy Schools, Healthy Kids: How Chefs Can Make a Difference,”focused on providing the Chefs Move to Schools volunteers with information about how to best work with schools and how other chefs have made an impact in their local schools.

“Through our national sponsorship of Share Our Strength’s Operation Frontline^®, we’ve seen what a difference can be made when families are given the tools and knowledge to plan nutritious meals on a budget,”said Kori Reed, ConAgra Foods Foundation executive director. “In many ways, schools are no different, working to feed students nourishing meals and sticking to a tight budget while doing so. Leveraging the expertise of the chef community, the Chefs Move to Schools initiative can make a difference.”

ConAgra Foods, Inc., is one of North America’s leading food companies, with brands in 96 percent of America’s households. Consumers find Banquet, Chef Boyardee, Egg Beaters, Healthy Choice, Hebrew National, Hunt’s, Marie Callender’s, Orville Redenbacher’s, PAM, Peter Pan, Reddi-wip and many ConAgra Foods brands in grocery, convenience, mass merchandise and club stores. ConAgra Foods also has a strong business-to-business presence, supplying frozen potato and sweet potato products as well as other vegetable, spice and grain products to a variety of well-known restaurants, foodservice operators and commercial customers. For more information, please visit us at www.conagrafoods.com.

SOURCE: ConAgra Foods, Inc.

June 4 Hundreds Of Chefs Learn How to Adopt A School At Share Our Strength's Panel Discussion With Assistant White House Chef Sam Kass, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Share Our Strength's Billy Shore

Chefs Prepare for Kick Off of First Lady Michelle Obama's 'Chefs Move to Schools' School Nutrition

Forbes (Share Our Strength's Press Release)
June 3, 2010

WASHINGTON, June 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ – On Friday, June 4, 2010 at 12:00 PM, Share Our Strength^®, the leading nonprofit organization ending childhood hunger in America by connecting kids to the nutritious food they need to lead active, healthy lives, will join First Lady Michelle Obama in convening hundreds of chefs from across the country on the South Lawn of the White House for the launch of Chefs Move to Schools.

In anticipation of this event, Share Our Strength will be hosting an educational breakfast panel entitled Healthy Schools, Healthy Kids: How Chefs Can Make a Difference, at the JW Marriott Hotel in Washington, DC from 8:00 AM-10:00 AM. Key speakers include Share Our Strength Founder and Executive Director Billy Shore, White House Assistant Chef Sam Kass, and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Chefs pledging to adopt a school in their community will learn how to navigate the school environment, find out how to get started in the schools, and hear success stories from volunteer chefs who have made a big impact in their local schools.

This legion of enthusiastic chefs will then gather with the First Lady to demonstrate their commitment to working in our schools to ensure that kids get the nutritious food they need to thrive.

Leveraging the momentum of Let's Move!, Mrs. Obama's campaign to solve the childhood obesity epidemic, Chefs Move to Schools focuses on the integral role chefs play in their communities, a core belief shared by Share Our Strength. Chefs Move to Schools is a national initiative that encourages chefs to adopt a school in their community and serve as a healthy food educator and resource for the kids, parents, teachers and food service staff.

Run through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the program will pair chefs with participating schools in their communities to create healthy meals that meet the schools' dietary guidelines and budgets, and to teaching young people about nutrition and making balanced and healthy choices.

"The Chefs Move to Schools and the First Lady's Let's Move! Campaigns are a natural complement to Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry campaign," said Bill Shore, Founder and Executive Director, Share Our Strength. "With the Administration's support, we will ensure that all kids in America receive the nutritious food they need to lead healthy, active lives--and we can put an end to two epidemics at the same time: childhood hunger and childhood obesity."

Share Our Strength was selected to recruit and engage chefs to join this national effort by White House Assistant Chef and Food Initiatives Coordinator Sam Kass. Share Our Strength and the First Lady's Let's Move! Campaign share a key goal: to connect children with the nutritious food they need to lead healthy, active lives.

Through its 25-year engagement with the food industry nationwide, and its role as the charity of choice for Food Network, Share Our Strength was able to engage hundreds of chefs including Food Network chefs Cat Cora, Aaron McCargo, Jr., Anne Burrell, Aaron Sanchez and Ellie Krieger; chefs Marcus Samuelson, Todd Gray, John Besh, Bryan Voltaggio, Cathal Armstrong, Robert Wiedamaier, Bruce Sherman, Jody Adams, Carla Hall, Bill Telepan and John Currence, among many others. Also slated to appear at this White House event are numerous chefs who volunteer to teach Share Our Strength's Operation Frontline(R) healthy cooking courses nationwide.

Share Our Strength's Healthy Schools, Healthy Kids: How Chefs Can Make a Difference breakfast and panel is sponsored by: American Express, Birds Eye Foods, Campbell Soup Company, ConAgra Foods, Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP), Mission Foods, Ocean Spray Cranberries, Quaker Oats and Weight Watchers.

About Share Our Strength^®

Share Our Strength^®, a national nonprofit, is ending childhood hunger in America by connecting children with the nutritious food they need to lead healthy, active lives. Through its No Kid Hungry(TM) campaign—a national effort to end childhood hunger in America by 2015—Share Our Strength ensures children in need are enrolled in effective federal nutrition programs, invests in community organizations fighting hunger, teaches families how to cook healthy meals on a budget, and builds public-private partnerships to end hunger, both nationally and at the state level. Working closely with the culinary industry and relying on the strength of its volunteers, Share Our Strength hosts innovative culinary fundraising events and develops pioneering cause marketing campaigns that support No Kid Hungry.

Visit Strength.org to get involved in the No Kid Hungry campaign.

For more information about Chefs Move to Schools, please visit letsmove.org.

CONTACT: Theresa Burton / Salma Bahramy (202) 478-6522 / (202) 478-6553 tburton@strength.org / sbahramy@strength.org

SOURCE Share Our Strength

Chefs Prepare for Kick Off of First Lady Michelle Obama's 'Chefs Move to Schools' School Nutrition

Forbes (Share Our Strength's Press Release)
June 3, 2010

This legion of enthusiastic chefs will then gather with the First Lady to demonstrate their commitment to working in our schools to ensure that kids get the nutritious food they need to thrive.

About Share Our Strength^®

Share Our Strength^®, a national nonprofit, is ending childhood hunger in America by connecting children with the nutritious food they need to lead healthy, active lives. Through its No Kid Hungry(TM) campaign—a national effort to end childhood hunger in America by 2015—Share Our Strength ensures children in need are enrolled in effective federal nutrition programs, invests in community organizations fighting hunger, teaches families how to cook healthy meals on a budget, and builds public-private partnerships to end hunger, both nationally and at the state level. Working closely with the culinary industry and relying on the strength of its volunteers, Share Our Strength hosts innovative culinary fundraising events and develops pioneering cause marketing campaigns that support No Kid Hungry.

Visit Strength.org to get involved in the No Kid Hungry campaign.

For more information about Chefs Move to Schools, please visit letsmove.org.

CONTACT: Theresa Burton / Salma Bahramy (202) 478-6522 / (202) 478-6553 tburton@strength.org / sbahramy@strength.org

SOURCE Share Our Strength

Chefs Prepare for Kick Off of First Lady Michelle Obama's 'Chefs Move to Schools' School Nutrition

Forbes (Share Our Strength's Press Release)
June 3, 2010

This legion of enthusiastic chefs will then gather with the First Lady to demonstrate their commitment to working in our schools to ensure that kids get the nutritious food they need to thrive.

About Share Our Strength^®

Share Our Strength^®, a national nonprofit, is ending childhood hunger in America by connecting children with the nutritious food they need to lead healthy, active lives. Through its No Kid Hungry(TM) campaign—a national effort to end childhood hunger in America by 2015—Share Our Strength ensures children in need are enrolled in effective federal nutrition programs, invests in community organizations fighting hunger, teaches families how to cook healthy meals on a budget, and builds public-private partnerships to end hunger, both nationally and at the state level. Working closely with the culinary industry and relying on the strength of its volunteers, Share Our Strength hosts innovative culinary fundraising events and develops pioneering cause marketing campaigns that support No Kid Hungry.

Visit Strength.org to get involved in the No Kid Hungry campaign.

For more information about Chefs Move to Schools, please visit letsmove.org.

CONTACT: Theresa Burton / Salma Bahramy (202) 478-6522 / (202) 478-6553 tburton@strength.org / sbahramy@strength.org

SOURCE Share Our Strength

June 2 Marble Slab Creamery Teams Up With Sandra Lee For Sandra Lee's Taste Of Summer Benefiting Share Our Strength

Marble Slab Creamery is pleased to be working with Sandra Lee and Share our Strength^® in an effort to end childhood hunger in America.

Fox Business—Press Release (Mentions Share Our Strength)
June 2, 2010

Marble Slab Creamery is pleased to be working with Sandra Lee and Share our Strength^® in an effort to end childhood hunger in America. Marble Slab Creamery has titled the program, Sandra Lee’s Taste of Summer, as Sandra Lee will debut 16 new ice cream Tasty Creations combining Marble Slab Creamery’s freshly made ice cream with delicious mixins. Marble Slab Creamery and Sandra Lee will donate $25,000 to Share Our Strength^® and customers are invited to visit www.marbleslab.com to make their own contributions throughout the summer. Share Our Strength^® is the leading organization working to ensure that no child goes hungry in America.

Sandra Lee shares her Semi-Homemade^® 70/30 culinary philosophy of combining 70% ready-made products with 30% fresh ingredients to enhance Marble Slab Creamery’s summer menu and celebrate the different tastes of summer. Marble Slab Creamery shares a similar philosophy by utilizing freshly made in-store ice cream with a variety of quality toppings and mixins. Marble Slab Creamery is managed by NexCen Franchise Management, Inc., a subsidiary of NexCen Brands, Inc.

The combination chosen from the following list that receives the most online votes at www.marbleslab.com will be featured in a forthcoming cookbook by Sandra Lee.

June 2 Billy Grant Going To The White House

Local Restaurateur To Participate In First Lady’s ‘Chefs Move To Schools’ Program

Chicago Tribune (Mentions Share Our Strength)
June 2, 2010

Billy Grant is going to the White House.

The well-known chef and restaurateur, who owns Grants and Restaurant Bricco in West Hartford, has been chosen to travel to Washington this week to help launch First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Chefs Move to Schools” program.

Nominated by Share Our Strength, a national organization working to end childhood hunger, Grant, who chairs a local fundraiser each year to benefit the national organization working to end childhood hunger, will be one of 100 chefs from around the country who will meet with the First Lady and learn exactly how to implement her fledgling initiative.”I am really not sure what she wants the focus to be,” said Grant, who was told the wear his “best” chef’s outfit to the meeting at the White House on Friday.

“Part of the program is to adopt a school and I have already committed to doing that,” said Grant, who has not yet decided which school he will work with as part of the program. “I am not sure if it will involve working with the menu, or the staff or teaching children how to eat better, or getting rid of the soda and junk food machines,” said Grant. “But I honestly do think though that it is an opportunity to change the lives of children.”

Besides the First Lady, Grant will meet White House chefs and attend a special breakfast. “I don’t think the President is going to be there,” said Grant as far as the whereabouts that day of President Barack Obama. “It’s just an honor to be going.”

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