Susan G. Komen for the Cure, KitchenAid and PBS cooking show host Jacques Pepin are urging home chefs to channel their cooking passion and make a difference by hosting a “party with a purpose” this July.
The 1,000 Cooks for the Cure initiative encourages participants to invite family, friends or colleagues for a dinner party, barbecue, office party, dessert sampling or any kind of get-together from July 20-29, 2012. Instead of wine, flowers or other gifts, hosts can ask guests to bring a donation in any amount for Susan G. Komen. The funds can be designated for either the organization’s national efforts or local breast cancer initiatives.
The nationwide event is part of Cook for the Cure, an 11-year partnership between Komen and KitchenAid that has raised more than $8 million for the cause through the sale of pink cooking products, celebrity chef auctions and grass-roots efforts. As a thank you from KitchenAid and Pepin, the host of any party registered at CookfortheCure.com that raises more than $50 will receive a thank you gift and be entered into a drawing for a special culinary experience.
The gift is a Villeroy & Boch “Pass the Plate” serving platter sent upon receipt of contributions. Designed with artwork by Pepin, the platters are intended to be “re-gifted” again and again, along with a homemade culinary creation from the giver. Each time the individually numbered plates are registered online at CookfortheCure.com and passed along to others, KitchenAid will make an additional $5 donation to Komen.
In addition, every host who registers their party and raises at least $50 will be entered into a random drawing to win a three-day trip to New York to attend one of Pepin’s professional cooking classes at the French Culinary Institute, a set of personally autographed Pepin cookbooks and dinner at the Institute’s L’Ecole restaurant. All hosts must register at CookfortheCure.com by July 29 and submit their donations by August 31, 2012.
