Menu for Hope 6
by Pim under Hope with 14 Comments
Monday, December 14, 2009
(The full list of bid items is now up, click here to go directly there.)
Welcome to Menu for Hope 6. Yes, it's been six years since our first little-campaign-that-could was born, banding together food and wine bloggers from all over the world to raise funds in support of worthy causes. For the past three years we've worked with the UN World Food Programme and raised nearly a quarter of a million dollars in support of their school lunch program. This year, we're once again working with WFP, this time to highlight the Purchase for Progress
What is Menu for Hope?
Menu
for Hope is an annual fundraising campaign hosted by me
and a revolving
group of food bloggers around the world. Five years ago, the
devastating tsunami
in Southeast Asia inspired me to find a way to help, and the very
first
Menu for Hope was born. The campaign has since become a yearly affair.
Each December, food bloggers from all over the world
join the campaign by offering a delectable array of food-related items
for the Menu for Hope raffle. Anyone – and that means you too – can participate. For every $10 donated, you earn
one virtual ticket to bid on an item of your choice. At the end
of the two-week campaign, the tickets are drawn and the results
announced on Chez Pim on Monday, January 18.
In the past three years, Menu for Hope have raised nearly a quarter of a million dollars to help the WFP end world hunger.
Who is the beneficiary of this year's campaign?
Menu for Hope (for three years and counting) supports the good work of the UN World Food Programme. WFP is the world’s largest food aid agency, working with over 1,000 other organizations in over 75 countries. In addition to providing food, the World Food Program helps hungry people to become self-reliant so that they escape hunger for good.
In the last two campaigns, we helped support a school lunch program in Lesotho. This year we're changing our direction a tiny bit. We're highlighting a new initiative at the WFP called Purchase for Progress (P4P). P4P enables smallholder and low-income farmers to supply food to WFP’s global operation. P4P helps farmers improves farming practices and puts more cash directly into their pockets in return for their crops. This will also help buoy local economy by creating jobs and income locally. We food bloggers understand the importance of buying locally and supporting our local farms, P4P helps do the same for farmers in low income countries around the world. More on P4P at www.wfp.org/purchase-progress.
Also, in a symbolic move, we're joining the WFP's A Billion for A Billion campaign. For the first time ever, over a billion people are chronically hungry
worldwide. There are also over a billion people who, like you and I, are in the position to help. Taking part in the Menu for Hope raffle and you can join the billion who chose to make a difference. Find out more about A Billion for A Billion here: wfp.org/1billion. You can make a donation directly to WFP there, but if you want to join the Menu for Hope 6 raffle you'll have to play here with us.
Who collects the money? The local hosts? Pim?
Definitely not me. Nor any other bloggers participating in the program. We use a third party site called First Giving who collects the donation and send the money directly to the WFP. No one's sending me a check or money order, and no one on the Menu for Hope team is making a dime out of this – unless you count good karma dimes, in which case we've made aplenty. Find out more about how FirstGiving works here.
How can you help?
Browse the amazing array of delectable items offered by food and wine bloggers from all over the world. You may also browse the bid items by region:
Europe (hosted by David Lebovitz)
Asia Pacific (hosted by Ed of Tomatom)
USA: East Coast (hosted by Helen of Tartelette)
USA: West Coast (hosted by Shauna of Gluten Free Girl)
Canada (hosted by Tara of Seven Spoons)
or if you're a wine geek you might want to head directly to see Alder at Vinography for the wine related bit items.
(The full list of worldwide raffle bid items will be up in just a little bit. Check back here soon!) is now up!
Once you find an item or items you want, then go and make a donation to Menu for Hope 6 at First Giving. For every $10 you donate, you may select one raffle bid item. The more you donate, the more chances to get the item(s) you want.
Even if you don't have much to share, don't count us out just yet. In the past three years, over 80% of our donors gave less than $50, and in the same period we raised nearly $250K. That's a lot of ten dollar bills from people just like you to make up nearly a quarter million!
If you don't want to indulge yourself with our delicious raffle bid items, consider donating $10 in your friend's or family's name, pick something they might like from our raffle. Who knew, your $10 might get them the chef's Grand Tasting men with wine pairing for two at the Michelin 2-star Manresa in Los Gatos!
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Hi dear Pim! thanks for this wonderful round up.
here my post for the raffle bid
www.untoccodizenzero.it/index.php/zenzero/news/menu-for-hope-vi/
Thanks for organizing this enormous undertaking! This is my first year to participate and I’m grateful for the chance to contribute.
I am really glad to be a part of MFH again this year. Good luck to everyone and give all you can! Happy and Safe Holidays!
Pim – this is such a wonderful idea – I can’t tell you how impressed I am at how much it’s grown! I am looking forward to checking out some of the stuff to bid on – in fact I am compiling a list to read over on my way to Paris this Friday!
PS: I just noticed your “eat, live, cook, write” and hope you don’t think I stole your idea with my blog name. I don’t remember seeing that there before – wasn’t it something about a “pomme”? Anyway, just wanted to make sure you didn’t think I took your idea!
Hello
I had the same problem as another UK based JustHungry reader in that my Visa Debit card was not acknowledged by the FirstGiving website. I had an alternative Credit card and was able to use that (although I’m still awaiting a confirmation email) but not everyone has this option.
If it helps, I contributed earlier this year using an alternative site called justgiving.com. As a bonus, tax could be claimed back with the UK donations so that my contribution was boosted significantly.
Anyway, best of luck with the raffle, it’s a wonderful scheme. I hope you (and everyone reading this) have a wonderful Holiday season.
Wonderful to see your support of the World Food Programme.
Check out my blog for similar topics on food security, sustainability and food politics.
jennysfood.blogspot.com
Thank you for putting together such a great raffle for an amazing cause. Here is a link to my blog post about the raffle: www.localpairings.blogspot.com/2009/12/support-good-cause_14.html
Hello Jennifer,
Could you inform in your blog about our Faces of Hunger in America film contest? This is a project sponsored by Palms for Life Fund to help raise awareness about hunger in the US, affecting over 49 million people, of which 17 million are children. I have worked for the World Food Programme for 30 years and seen hunger and poverty worldwide. Hunger has no business existing in the US. You can see the finalist films showing hunger in the US by visiting www.facesofhunger.org
And if you are in NY on Monday the 21st, you are invited to come to the Action Center to End World Hunger where we will screen the films and have a forum about hunger in America with a very prestigious Panel of Judges.
Hannah Laufer-Rottman
Executive Director – ph: 718-450-0123
hello i can`t talk very english but good blog I saw in nat geo it`s wonderful…… bye
What a great cause! Looking forward to helping make a difference.
Lovely cause Pim and yesterday, I contributed whatever I could….to spread more awareness about the fund-raiser, I blogged about it too:
siri-corner.blogspot.com/2009/12/menu-for-hope-6.html
Thanks,
Siri
Pim
I think it is wonderful that you put so much time and effort into sponsoring this wonderful event.
However, I found myself very frustrated by your sudden unannounced change in plans. The logo for this year’s event clearly says that it ends on December 25th. On that day, I went through all the bids, and found some items that I wanted that had very few tickets purchased, and bought more of those. I assumed when I did this that the raffle was ending that day.
Imagine my surprise when it didn’t end, even though the logo still says “December 14 – 25″.
I know the money is going to a good cause, but there are lots of good causes in the world. If I knew there was another whole week for tickets to be purchased I would NOT have bought those tickets when I did. I would have either waited until the 31st, or whatever new day you decided the auction will end and hope it doesn’t get changed again, or I would have given that money to my local food bank.
I still cannot find any official announcement that the auction is extended. I do not read your blog regularly. I only read one food blog, and I get information about Menu For Hope from there. It does not mention the extended dates.
I know some people are going to think I’m just an old scrooge, but I think for an event of this magnitude, the communication should be crystal clear. The Firstgiving page should clearly indicate the dates, and if it changes, it should be clearly announced.
Thanks again for all you do.
I think that these mushrooms would be a great addition to my mushroom collection.
Mangosteen is my favorite childhood fruit. Can’t find any fresh ones when I moved to US. Can’t wait to let my toddler taste the Pear Mangosteen cottage cheese.