Menu for Hope

I am thinking of offering a prize for this year's Menu for Hope campaign (see below for more info) & I need ideas! In the past, prizes were anything from home-baked cookies to signed cookbooks to dinner at local restaurants to trips to wine country.

According to the campaign's creator: "The prize you offer need not be of high monetary value, but it should appeal to your readership. A small rule of thumb we'd like to suggest is that each prize offered should have the potential to raise at least $200. That means, don't offer a prize unless you are pretty sure you could get at least twenty of your readers to donate $10 for a raffle ticket toward that prize."

I've thought of offering a private cooking lesson or a catered dinner, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with going to stranger's house for that (unless, of course, one of my friends were to win!).

ANY SUGGESTIONS? WHAT KIND OF PRIZES WOULD YOU LIKE TO BID ON?

I am hoping one of my favorite local chefs/restaurants/businesses (you know who you are!) would be interested in donating something that I could offer through my blog (I'll handle all the hosting details & contact the winner with information on how to claim their prize). I'm thinking....dinner for two at one of St. Louis's best restaurants? A private cooking class at one of the city's best cooking schools?

PLEASE CONTACT ME IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN DONATING SOMETHING! I'd really like to see St. Louis get involved in this worthwhile endeavor.

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From Chez Pim:

What is Menu for Hope? Menu for Hope is an annual fundraising campaign hosted by me and a revolving group of food bloggers around the world. Five years ago, the devastating tsunami in Southeast Asia inspired me to find a way to help, and the very first Menu for Hope was born. The campaign has since become a yearly affair. For the past three years, Menu for Hope raised nearly a quarter of million dollars in support of the good work of the UN World Food Programme, helping to feed hungry people worldwide.

Each December, food bloggers from all over the world join the campaign by offering a delectable array of food-related prizes for the Menu for Hope raffle. Anyone – and that means you too - can buy raffle tickets to bid on these prizes. For every $10 donated, you earn one virtual raffle ticket to bid on a prize of their choice. At the end of the two-week campaign, the raffle tickets are drawn and the results announced on Chez Pim.

When will this year's campaign take place?
December 14 through Christmas.

Who is the beneficiary of this year's campaign?
Once again we've chosen to work with the UN World Food Programme. WFP is the world’s largest food aid agency, working with over 1,000 other organizations in over 75 countries. In addition to providing food, the World Food Program helps hungry people to become self-reliant so that they escape hunger for good.

This year, we are supporting a new initiative at the WFP called Purchase for Progress (P4P). P4P enables smallholder and low-income farmers to supply food to WFP’s global operation. P4P helps farmers improves farming practices and puts more cash directly into their pockets in return for their crops. This will also help buoy local economy by creating jobs and income locally. We food bloggers understand the importance of buying locally and supporting our local farms, P4P helps do the same for farmers in low income countries around the world. More on P4P at http://www.wfp.org/purchase-progress.