As a food blogger I am always talking, thinking, discussing and working with food everyday. However, I now that this luxury is not by any means to be taken for granted. There are others who do not have this luxury. As food bloggers it therefore, becomes our duty to give some of this luxury we have to the needy. It’s time to join forces as food bloggers as this year’s Menu for Hope 6 kicks off.
Menu for Hope is an annual fundraising campaign which is the brainchild of Pim and takes place each December. Hosted by Pim and a revolving group of food bloggers around the world it started five years ago when the tsunami devastating Southeast Asia inspired Pim to find a way to help. The very first Menu for Hope was born and with the help of food bloggers from around the world we have helped raised money for various charity programs. For the past three years, Menu for Hope raised nearly a quarter of million dollars in support of the good work of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), helping to feed hungry people worldwide. Last year we raised just over $60,000!!
This year's campaign is going to support 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 - so your donation will help both to assist these farmers and feed the hungry.
How can you help?
If you are a blogger, you can participate in Menu for Hope 6 by promoting Menu for Hope on your blog. Promoting Menu for Hope is really easy - just pop over to Pim's blog and save the logo, then upload it to your own site. Ticket sales kick off on 14 December, so please try to remind your readers regularly from the 14th until the end of the raffle.
If you are a blogger or producer/restauranteur/author and want to donate and host a raffle prize, please contact the MfH host in your area (the list is below). The host will then allocate a prize code to you and list your prize on the official Menu for Hope prize list. When you post about your prize on 14 December, you must make sure that this prize code is included in your post so that your readers know what prize code to use in order to bid for your prize.
Here is more advice from this year's Europe & UK host-with-the-most David Lebovitz:
"The prize you offer need not be of high monetary value, but it should appeal to your readership. We are suggesting that each prize offered should have the potential to raise at least $200. In other words, please don't offer a prize unless you are pretty sure you could get at least twenty of your readers to each donate $10 for a raffle ticket toward that prize.
Please do not solicit prizes from restaurants or producers whom you do not know. A big part of our success in prior years came from the personal connections between bloggers, food producers/restaurateurs/authors, and the readers who donate to the campaign. Basically, if they know your name, it's ok. If you pick up the phone and introduce yourself and the person at the other end of the line goes "huh?", you shouldn't be asking them.
Each blogger is also responsible for shipping their prize to the winning donor. Make sure you have enough in your budget to cover shipping. It's important that you specify where your shipping area will cover when you offer the prize. Frankly, we prefer that you don't restrict shipping area, but if you must, then please be very clear in your blog post so as not to confuse our donors."
Please feel free to forward this post on to all other bloggers you know so they can participate too.
The regional hosts for this year's Menu for Hope are:
- US: West Coast (If you are closer to SF than you are to NY then you belong here) - Shauna of Gluten Free Girl (glutenfreegirl[at]gmail[dot]com)
- US: East Coast - Helen of Tartelette (mytartelette[at]gmail[dot]com)
- Europe and the UK - David Lebovitz (david.lebovitz[at]yahoo[dot]com)
- Canada - Tara of Seven Spoons (tara[at]sevenspoons[dot]net)
- Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand - Ed Charles of Tomato (gastrotom[at]gmail[dot]com)
- Wine blog host - Alder of Vinography (alder[at]vinography[dot]com)
If you'd like to participate, please send the following to your local host:
- a short description (one paragraph) of the prize and URL to your site; and
- two images/logos of your prize, sized 75x75 pixels and 200x200 pixels respectively).
Your host will then send you a prize code and more information on how to participate, as well as instructions to post about your prize when the raffle goes live on 14 December.
If you are a food lover or food blog reader, visit Chez Pim on Monday December 14 when the campaign goes live. You can browse the amazing array of prizes by type, or find a prize near you by searching by region. Bid on as many prizes as you'd like. Buy raffle tickets as holiday gifts to your loved ones, or to yourself.
Please help us end world hunger and make a difference!
All photographs and written content on What's For Lunch, Honey? © 2006-2009 Meeta Khurana unless otherwise indicated. | All rights reserved | Please Ask First
Excellent, Meeta!
ReplyDeleteYay! I can't wait to see the prizes... it's like Christmas...oh wait, yeah it is CHRISTMAS! weheehe
ReplyDelete