UPDATE: Blogger Makes It To Semi-Finals For Charity

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Nov. 9, 2009) – The latest news on the Quaker Oats/ Goodbite challenge is in. Enough of you have watched, voted and catapulted Laura Levy’s “Red, White and Berry” oatmeal recipe into the semi-finals.
Levy is now one of only three food bloggers left in the “Awaken Your Senses” challenge, sponsored by Quaker Oats and Goodbite.com. The contest wraps up on Nov. 13.

Now there is a little over one week left to vote and help secure Levy’s prize: $10,000 for the Food For The Poor, the country’s largest international relief and development agency.

Watch and vote for Levy’s “Red, White and Berry” oatmeal topping, and help Food For The Poor continue its work in 17 countries. Visit www.youtube.com/quakertalk, click on “Vote” toward the top, and give Levy and Food For The Poor a green thumbs up.

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Oct. 21, 2009) – Watch and vote and with one click of your mouse you could help feed millions of hungry people in the Caribbean and Latin America. Sound too easy? Here’s how. Food For The Poor is one of 12 charitable organizations that could benefit from a dozen of the Web’s top food bloggers competing for votes on You Tube’s new Quaker Talk channel.

It’s all part of a large campaign cooked up by Quaker and Goodbite.com, called “Awaken Your Senses.” The 12 food bloggers must each reveal a favorite childhood food memory on You Tube. Then, Goodbite’s Chef David Lawrence takes that memory and translates it into an original oatmeal topping, combining Quaker Instant Oatmeal and fresh ingredients.

Food blogger Laura Levy, of Laura’s Best Recipe’s chose to compete for Food For The Poor, a relief and development organization working in 17 countries in the Caribbean and Latin America. She says she loves the organization and is hard at work letting all her subscribers know to vote for her recipe in the contest. Along with a very popular recipe site, Levy has more than 2,400 Twitter followers.

Levy’s childhood food memory revolved around the Fourth of July. She reminisced about growing up in a small town where the national holiday was always a big deal. She remembered the parades, barbecues and hunting for berries. In the evening, after a day of collecting ollieberries (similar to blackberries), everyone gathered around the bonfires on the beach making berry crumbles right on the fire-grill.

Inspired by this tasty, patriotic memory, Goodbites’s Chef Lawrence created a “Red, White and Berry” topping. He’ll broadcast the secret to whipping up this sweet treat on Oct. 23. That’s when you can log on to You Tube’s Quaker Talk channel, watch Levy’s customized recipe and vote for her topping to win.

“Food For The Poor is honored that Laura chose our organization to receive her winnings. We feed an average of 2 million people every day,” said Angel Aloma, Food For The Poor’s Executive Director. “And this is so easy. Everyone who logs on and votes for Levy’s recipe to win will help to break the cycle of poverty in our world.”

Laura Levy, Goodbite, Quaker and Food For The Poor staff and supporters are spreading the word about the “Awaken Your Senses” challenge through social media networks like Facebook and Twitter. The grand prize winner will be announced on Nov.16. Each of the dozen participating charities will receive $500.

Food For The Poor, the largest international relief and development organization in the nation, does much more than feed millions of hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. We provide emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, visit www.foodforthepoor.org.

Contact:
Aimee Vignola
Public Relations Associate
954.427.2222, ext. 6079