Monday, October 18, 2010

Cooking Matters! Formerly Operation Frontline

This weekend I had the honor of being among countless people from all over the country who have engaged in providing cooking classes and other works for Share Our Strength programs. Because on my volunteer work as a OFL chef with Operation Frontline, recently renamed Cooking Matters, I was given a scholarship to attend this year's Share Our Strength Leaders Conference in Washington DC. The conference landed on my birthday weekend Sat Oct 16 - Oct 18th and it was a perfect gift! Moreover, Alex had the opportunity to join in on the festivities!

The event was absolutely amazing! It made me proud to be among such inspiring people who have pledged to make it their focus to end childhood obesity by 2015! It was amazing to see how large Share Our Strength truly is and how instrumental the work of this non profit has proven to be. The days were long and filled with back to back seminars as a lot of information and new updates needed to be shared in this little time. I learned a great deal after hearing leaders speak of the many challenges circling obesity and hunger in America and the solutions they have already, or hope to apply, to make this fight a reality. While the cause is one that is extremely serious, the event as a whole was warm, welcoming and fun. The conference kicked-off a welcome lunch, a dinner at Hook later that night, a breakfast the next morning, a special awards dinner, an after party (too tired to attend!) and a elegant breakfast the next morning. Not to mention the ability to meet some really cool special guest also involved in Share Our Strength, like Susie Fogelson, Brooke Johnson and Danny Meyer.

In these 3 days I have learned a great deal about Share Our Strength. The conference helped me put it all in perspective and motivated me to seek other ways that I can continue to reach out to help in this worthy cause. Share Our Strength offers various ways to part take in their works. For instance, Taste of the Nation, The Great American Bake Sale, Operation Frontline (Cooking Matters), and A Tasteful Pursuit. There are plenty of ways to get involved in this wonderful mission! At the very least you too can join me in taking the No Kid Hungry pledge. I look forward to working with you on this phenomenal national mission! Thank you so much Aliyah for allowing me to be a part of this exciting and honorable opportunity!

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