Rachael Ray has been a rising star for quite some time, starting as a celebrity chef, and graduating into the syndicated daytime TV world. In 2006, the ambitious Ray launched a nonprofit organization called Yum-o!, which helps kids and their families develop healthy relationships with food and cooking. This is done in a three-pronged approach – “Cook, Feed and Fund.” Here is how they break down:
1. Healthy Cooking
In the cooking initiative of Yum-o!, kids and their families are taught to exude confidence in the kitchen and to start cooking freshly prepared meals.
2. Feeding Hungry American Kids
While we often think about feeding the hungry in the third world, there are plenty of young people who go to bed hungry here in the U.S. According to a 2005 USDA study, nearly 13 million kids did not have access to enough food to meet their basic nutritional needs. Yum-o! is partnering with other organizations to end childhood hunger in America.
3. Funding Cooking Education and Scholarships
Cooking isn’t just necessary for healthy living, it’s also a viable career. Nobody knows this more than Yum-o! founder Rachael Ray. Chefs are no longer just anonymous people in the kitchen, but bigger-than-life personalities on television. Yum-o! helps kids who want to pursue a career in the culinary arts by funding scholarships.
Learn more at Yum-o.org.