(Photo above courtesy of Awesome Bend)
Ashley Joyce and a group of students from the OSU Extension Nutrition Education Program won the July 18 Awesome Bend $1000 Pitch Night with their proposal Cooking Up Food Heroes. They also won the Audience Favorite Prize, making their total winnings for the night $1,189. The prize money will pay for aprons and chef’s hats for more than 170 students in an after-school cooking class called Kids in the Kitchen.
Through the seven lesson series, the program offers free cooking classes to fourth and fifth grade students, including a high percentage of youth qualifying for free and reduced meals. Many of the students at our lowest income schools do not have access to enrichment opportunities. This cooking class gives them a positive place to be and provides them education that impacts their food choices as well as empowering them to cook at home.
“We have seen students put on their aprons and transform!” said Joyce. “They are empowered. They are chefs. They take on the challenge of safely using chef’s knives, graters, and hot appliances. They collaborate in teams to follow their recipe directions, become leaders and then share their creations with their families.”
Awesome Bend is now accepting applications for proposals that will make Bend an even better place to live, work or play for its next quarterly grant at www.awesomebend.org. The application deadline is September 30, 2017. Finalists will be notified and invited to present 3-minute pitches at the next Awesome Bend Pitch Night which will be held October 17th, 2017 6pm-8:30pm at the Summit Saloon, 125 NW Oregon Ave in downtown Bend. The event is free and open to the public.
What Is Awesome Bend?
Awesome Bend’s mission is to inspire and support ideas that make Bend an even better place to live, work and play.
The guidelines for grant selection include:
The project must be feasible and completed with $1000 within three months of the award.
The money cannot be used for personal expenses or general operating expenses for an established charity.
Grantees agree to return to the next Pitch Night and tell the community about their project, thus inspiring future awesomeness.
For more information about Pitch Night, to apply for a grant or to apply to become a trustee, please visit www.awesomebend.org or email awesomebend@gmail.com.
