No Kid Hungry Celebrates Its First Anniversary With Food Network

jeff bridges, brooke johnson, billy shore

With Thanksgiving and the holidays right around the corner, it's important to remember to donate to those in need, especially children.

Last week, Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry campaign celebrated its one year anniversary with Food Network and campaign spokesperson Jeff Bridges. The No Kid Hungry Pledge is a daunting task, but with a committed army of supporters, Share Our Strength is confronting childhood hunger head-on with a goal of ending it by 2015.

"It's an honor and a privilege to work with Share Our Strength. They do such incredible work and they inspire us as a company to try and be better. We're excited to use the power of Food Network to help them raise awareness on this issue — our employees are excited, our chefs are excited," said Brooke Johnson, President of Food Network.

During the celebration, guests also got a sneak peek of a documentary Food Network is producing around the issue of childhood hunger in America, which will release in 2012.

Billy Shore, founder and chief executive officer of Share Our Strength added, "We have hundreds of partners, but only one media partner. Food Network has helped us spread the word about childhood hunger in a way we never could."

Want to help? Get involved now by donating to the cause — all donations matched through December 31.

anne burrell, alex guarnaschelli, amanda freitag jeff bridges

Also in attendance at the Share Our Strength celebration were Chopped judges Alex Guarnaschelli, Marc Murphy, Amanda Freitag and host Ted Allen. They're using the power of TV to spread the word about childhood healthy eating by airing a special episode of Chopped called: Class Act, airing tonight at 10pm/9c.

Tonight, four school cafeteria chefs compete to raise awareness about such an important issue. "This episode is a win-win for Food Network. The show's made better by the topic and it's an opportunity to get the message out there: Child nutrition is needed in schools," said Brooke Johnson.

We also caught up with judge Marc Murphy: "I don't like to call them lunch ladies, I like to call them school chefs. This episode is incredibly moving, most of the cameramen and crew were in tears the entire time, watching these ladies, their energy, enthusiasm and beauty comes out." When I asked him whether or not this would be his favorite Chopped episode, he said, "Hands down — until we do another one that's just as important."

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