Gulf Coast Community Giving Now Exceeds $2 million

NEW ORLEANS, LA (May 1, 2008) – Emeril Lagasse Foundation announced $580,000 in grants awarded to educational programs and summer camps in the New Orleans area, bringing the total contributions to Gulf Coast organizations since Hurricane Katrina to over $2 million. The programs receiving support will provide New Orleans youth with nutrition and culinary education, innovative arts enrichment programs, and life skills development.

Building upon its successful pilot program funded by the foundation last summer, New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) will host its second culinary arts program with a new grant from the foundation. A guest chef-instructor from Lagasse’s alma mater Johnson and Wales University will lead the intensive session for 20 students this June.

At St. Michael Special School, a longtime beneficiary of Lagasse, the foundation’s grant will complete construction on a life skills academic lab and kitchen and allow for curriculum development. The Edible Schoolyard New Orleans at Samuel J. Green Charter School will add afterschool programming and a second edible garden site at New Orleans Charter Middle/Ashe.

“When I started the foundation in 2002, I only dreamed of this milestone. With our funding, over $2 million is now at work improving young people’s lives on the Gulf Coast,” says Emeril Lagasse, chairman. “The grantees should be honored for their roles in providing new opportunities for our youth.”

This summer, the foundation will continue its title sponsorship of art camp at the Contemporary Arts Center, which integrates a culinary component within its arts instruction, as well as help expand the camp to a second site. Also, the foundation contributed over $100,000 to the Unified Summer Grants Collaborative, a joint project with Greater New Orleans Afterschool Partnership and United Way for the Greater New Orleans Area. Now in its third year, the collaborative allows 501(c)3 organizations to apply for summer camp funding from multiple agencies with a single application.

New Orleans Outreach will implement a “Healthy Habits” program in its seven public schools during the school year, and the Junior League and Southern Food and Beverage Museum will offer cooking camps throughout the year as a result of grants from the foundation.

Part of a city wide capital project to improve childcare options for low income families, named the GNO Rebuild Child Care Collaborative, the foundation will fund renovation of Gilda’s Academy, a non-profit early childhood center in New Orleans East, along with special features qualifying the center for national accreditation. The new Gilda’s Garden will boast a country garden with vegetables, fruit trees, herbs and flowers and will feature Gilda’s Café.

This funding is made possible from dollars raised at the foundation’s annual special event Carnivale du Vin. Since its inception in 2005, Carnivale du Vin has been ranked by Wine Spectator as one of the “Top Ten U.S. Charity Auctions,” raising $5.8 million total. The fourth annual event will be held on November 15, 2008 at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside.

About the Emeril Lagasse Foundation (ELF):

The Emeril Lagasse Foundation seeks to inspire, mentor and enable all young people, especially those from disadvantaged circumstances, to realize their full potential as productive and creative individuals. The foundation supports and encourages programs creating developmental and educational opportunities for children within communities where Emeril’s restaurants operate.

The Emeril Lagasse Foundation was established in 2002 as the realization of Chef Emeril’s dream to improve the quality of young people’s lives. His continuous efforts to support and be actively involved with children’s charities allows him the opportunity to not only raise funds for his Foundation, but to create partnerships that help others with their own charitable endeavors. The Foundation combines the energy and passion of Chef Emeril, along with that of his many friends and partners, in order to have greater impact on the communities where Emeril’s restaurants operate, and to benefit the charitable recipients it supports.

Through innovative partnerships, programs and special events, along with support from corporate and individual donations, the Emeril Lagasse Foundation embraces a unique opportunity to grant funds to children’s organizations that have a culinary and/or educational component, and to enrich the lives of many young people through the creative art of cooking so that they may look towards a future of creativity, opportunity and hope.

For more information on the Emeril Lagasse Foundation, please visit www.emeril.org.

Filed Under: Emeril Lagasse Foundation, Press Releases