Cheesecake Factory's Ultimate Give!

It's still 'Hunger Action Month' and "Feeding America" is seemingly EVERYWHERE partnering with companies like The Cheesecake Factory with a campaign to 'Drive Out Hunger" here at home. The company has been busy doing just that with their tour of 30 cities in 30 days collecting cans of soup all along the way. They've held the charity events each day in a new city all month long and are still at it. Even better, the first 500 guests who attend and donate two cans of soup will recieve a complimentary slice of their famous Stefanie's Ultimate Red Velvet Cake Cheesecake™ and other fun things for participating. Click here to chart the tour, see where they've been so far and where they're going next.

If you can't make it or have missed one of the 30 stops, you can still join in the effort. On September 30th, bring two cans of soup to any Cheesecake Factory restaurant and, on top of your donation, they'll donate 10% of your guest check to the local food bank. How cool is that?

Cheesecake Factory staff members across the country are also donating cans of soup to benefit local food banks as part of their 'Staff September Soup Drive.' Their goal is to collect 40,000 cans of soup through the effort.

Then on October 1st in Washingto D.C. they'll hold a big celebration, announce the final count and unveil a special tribute to everyone who donated.

Macy's At The Plate!

What do Emrel Lagasse and Martha Stewart have in common? Plenty. They were hosts last Tuesday at a dinner party inside Macy's New York store at Herald Square. The event marked the kickoff of Macy's new campaign called "Come Together" a campaign to fight domestic hunger.
What struck me most about the campaign is the clever idea Macy's had to drive the message home. They're asking people to host dinner parties in their own homes and request that guests forgo the usual bottle of wine or hostess gift and instead pledge a donation to Feeding America. That charity operates through a nationwide network of member food banks.
Macy's is stepping all the way up to the plate by matching donations dollar for dollar until the total goal of 10 million meals is reached. See details at macys.com/cometogether. Watch for "Come Together" TV Ads too that will feature several stars that sell their wares at Macys, like Donald Trump, Mariah Carey and Tommy Hilfiger. One article I read about the campaign asks the question "whom would you like to invite to dinner if it could be anyone in the world?" Great question. I think my answer would be just some body that's hungry.

HUNGER ACTION MONTH!

September is Hunger Action Month, dubbed so by this nations largest food charity “Feeding America” who estimates the number of Americans needing food assistance has grown 30% in just one year. Feeding America along with dozens of its affiliate groups are launching campaigns to raise awareness  all this month. Since they’ve begun to rely increasingly on the Internet to spread the word, keep your eyes open over Face Book, Twitter, blogs and other online social media sites and lend a hand if you can. I think this is a timely and fabulous idea, don’t you?  But wait, there's more:

How about two other organizations out of Missouri who together supply food to some 2000 food pantries? I love their campaign called “Snapshot of Hunger” a photo campaign to illustrate how families struggle with the issue of hunger. The groups ask people to spend $28.00 on food for the week, then take a photo of the food and email it to snapshot@feedingillinois.org. $28.00 is equal to one-week allotment of food stamps. This could be a real challenge for some. That's why I think there's power behind the idea!

Then there's Weight Watcher's campaign which runs through mid-October. For every 1 million pounds that members lose in weight before the deadline, the company will donate $250,000, or up to $1-million to two anti-hunger groups: Share Our Strength and Action Against Hunger.  Because last year was such a success the company donated $1-million with members losing more than 4 million pounds, Weight Watchers decided to continue the effort, and add new ways to help. They're putting up an additional $25,000 for the charities through Lose-a-Palooza, a day-long effort to get people talking about the campaign on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and other social media. How cool is that? 

The Bread Art Project!

Real estate is to location, location, location, as blogging is to branding, branding, branding. Sandwich 365 is hip to this fact. We're carving out a name for ourselves, one sandwich at a time with friends like http://www.breadartproject.com/ and you can too. The fine folks at The Grain Foods Foundation have teamed with Feeding America to help fight hunger in the United States. And They're doing it by enriching the lives of Americans through nutritious food and art. What a fantastic combination. Go see them today, make a donation, make a difference. Sam