PCC Chef Invited to White House
June 2, 2010
Chef Elizabeth Mikesell, Culinary Instructor for the Center for Training and Development at Pima Community College, has been invited to the White House to kick off the Chefs Move to Schools program.
Mikesell, along with 99 other chefs from around the country will meet sometime after 10 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, Friday, June 4, on the South Lawn of the White House to launch the Chefs Move to Schools. In the program, chefs will work with schools in their community to promote First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign (www.letsmove.gov) to solve the childhood obesity epidemic within a generation.
Before the kick-off event, the chefs will attend a breakfast forum hosted by partner Share Our Strength® at the nearby JW Marriott. Share Our Strength® (www.strength.org) is a national organization fighting childhood hunger in America. At the breakfast, officials will explain the Chefs Move to Schools program and expectations of participants. At approximately 10 a.m., the attendees will walk together to the White House for the official launch event, a tour of the gardens and press conference.
Mikesell is a member of the American Culinary Federation (www.acfchefs.org) and is Chairwoman of its Chef and Child Foundation, which is the philanthropic arm of the American Culinary Federation Educational Foundation (ACFEF). The mission statement for the Chef and Child Foundation is, “To educate children and families in understanding proper nutrition through community-based initiatives led by the American Culinary Federation chef members, and to be the voice of the culinary industry in its fight against childhood hunger, malnutrition and obesity.”
ACF officials chose Mikesell to take part in the launch because of her previously demonstrated volunteerism, ACF participation and interest in positively impacting childhood nutrition. (A brief biography of Mikesell accompanies this press release.)
“This trip to the White House is certainly one of the greatest honors I have ever experienced,” says Mikesell. “I have been concerned about and working to alter the nutrition and obesity issues evident in America’s youth for several years.
“It is extremely fulfilling to at long last witness a tide that may turn around the toxic eating trends in America from the past several years. I am even more delighted to know that chefs will play such a key role in that process.”
White House Chef Sam Kass is leading Chefs Move to Schools, which is run through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The program will pair chefs with interested schools in their communities to adopt the school and work with teachers, parents and school nutrition professionals to help educate kids about food and nutrition. The goal of the program is to promote chefs as the catalyst for creating a new nation of child food advocates and start turning the tide on eating behaviors.
CONTACT:
A. Rachelle Howell, Assistant Vice Chancellor of Marketing,
(520) 206-4850