Chefs for Kids recently celebrated a new beginning at its 30th Dinner & Auction. Thank you to the ACF Chefs Las Vegas family who participated through silent and live auction partnerships, ticket and table sponsorships, or cash donations.
As you might guess… There was dinner. There was dancing. There was FUNdraising! There were lots of photo opportunities. But, did you know that our steadfast support of this charity all began at the American Culinary Federation’s National Convention in 1989?
A group of our members from Las Vegas first heard about Chef and Child, a nonprofit organization that helps feed children in need. They knew immediately that Las Vegas needed this type of program, and the story went like this…
They connected with Carolyn Leontos and Julie Murray from the University of Nevada Reno, Cooperative Extension, who were instrumental in creating and providing nutrition education programming, and getting access to the schools in which they would serve.
To help support their efforts, Michael Ty suggested starting an annual dinner, raising money by auctioning off private home dinners made by some of Las Vegas’ most talented chefs. J.B. Brown was recruited to be the first chairperson of the nonprofit, and alongside Michael Ty, Larry Chumley, Frank Insera, Claude Lambertz, TE Williams, and an entire community of supporters, the first annual dinner & auction bloomed into fruition. This provided the much needed funds for the organization to expand, changing its name to Chefs for Kids.
Prior to the first dinner being hosted, the organization was only able to support one school. Thanks to the generosity of many, the organization has been able to grow to deliver nutrition education, along with breakfast and holiday meals to 14 schools. None of this would be possible without The ACF Chefs Las Vegas founders planting the seeds for Chefs for Kids 30 years ago.
Thank you to everyone who supported our mission to fund Chefs for Kids. The charity is more than halfway to the $280,000 goal set at the dinner. If you would like to discuss sponsorship or hosting a fundraising event, contact Renee at donations@chefsforkids.org or if you would like to simply donate, click here.