Cooking up Change Healthy Cooking Contest

The Healthy Schools Campaign (HSC) is a national not-for-profit leader on issues of school wellness and environmental health. HSC addresses the growing crises of obesity and asthma through programs focused on healthy school food, bringing nutrition education and recess back to the school day, building environmentally friendly schools and promoting green cleaning.

Sponsorship Opportunity

HSC is accepting sponsorships for the Cooking up Change Healthy Cooking Contest to be held Oct. 23, 2008 at Salvage One in Chicago. The contest will provide opportunities for hundreds of students from Chicago high schools to compete in healthy cooking categories. Culinary competitions promote a spirit of teamwork, competition and learning. This contest has the added challenge of requiring students to prepare delicious items that also meet specific nutrition standards such as calorie and fat content. This concept will provide students with an important learning experience, as increased awareness of nutrition and obesity are requiring the food industry to adopt healthier cooking techniques. Judges will include prominent chefs and local celebrities.

The cooking contest will take place at HSC’s annual benefit, Cooking up Change, which regularly attracts over 300 individuals who are committed to healthy lifestyles and environmentally responsible products.

Sponsorship Benefits

Opportunity to reach thousands of health-conscious and environmentally aware individuals in the Chicago region and beyond, through HSC’s national network of stakeholders. This network includes parents, administrators, teachers, school nurses, students, community leaders and others who care about children, health and our environment.

Opportunity for media exposure at the local, state and national levels. The healthy cooking contest will be promoted extensively and event sponsors will be included in all press communications.

Your company name listed prominently in all contest materials and HSC publications: event announcements and invitations, HSC’s e-newsletter, biannual Healthy Schools Magazine and at www.healthyschoolscampaign.org, the organization’s acclaimed website.

Sponsorship Advantages

• Associates your brand with a respected not-for-profit organization and its mission.
• Demonstrates your commitment to student health, healthy eating, the environment and schools.
• Connects your company with culinary programs that are training minorities and women to join the food, hospitality and culinary professions.
• Raises your company’s profile with health-conscious and environmentally aware consumers.

Healthy Cooking Contest Sponsorship Packages

* Sponsors must agree to terms of use for Cooking up Change Healthy Cooking Contest logo

Highlights: Cooking up Change Healthy Cooking Contest 2007

The Healthy Schools Campaign is pleased to announce the Cooking up Change Healthy Cooking Contest for high school

students enrolled in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) culinary arts program. This event builds on the excitement and enormous success of our first annual Cooking up Change Healthy Cooking Contest. The highlights from 2007 include:

Fifteen Teams Participated: Over one hundred students from fifteen schools participated in the Cooking up Change Healthy Cooking Contest. Students were part of the Chicago Public Schools’ culinary arts program, a three year vocational training program that prepares students for careers in the food industry. These students, dressed in their chef jackets, presented themselves and their culinary creations with an incredible level of professionalism.

Students Competed in Three Categories: Each team entered two of three cooking categories: appetizer, school meal and dessert. The most challenging part of the contest was the school meal category. Students were required to prepare a school meal consistent with Balanced Choices, a program designed by Chartwells-Thompson to provide a high standard of health and nutrition for school meals within a stringent budget. It was remarkable to see the healthy, tasty creations that students created for just under a dollar per meal.

Distinguished Panel of Judges: Our diverse panel of judges included corporate sponsors, civic leaders, radio and television personalities, prominent chefs and a former U.S. Senator.

Extensive Media Coverage: The Cooking up Change Healthy Cooking Contest received a great deal of media attention—stories appeared in the Chicago Sun Times, the Chicago Tribune, NBC5, Power 92 Chicago, web radio programs and radio interviews that were broadcast across the Midwest.

Audience Participation: Over 300 guests participated by voting for an “audience choice” award in the appetizer and desert categories. Our guests that evening included school officials, educators, public officials, corporate sponsors, parents and many of Chicago’s leading culinary professionals and advocates for healthy eating.

Promoting Healthy Eating: The Cooking up Change Healthy Cooking Contest’s healthy eating messages reached more than the 100 students who participated in the evening’s activities. The Healthy Schools Campaign held healthy cooking workshops for teachers and students from the Chicago Public Schools Culinary Arts Program prior to the contest. In addition, the healthy eating message reached all Chicago Public School high school students when the winning school lunch (designed by students from Chicago Vocational Career Academy) was served in high school cafeterias throughout the city in Jan. 2008. Due to the success of the contest, Chicago Public Schools is now offering a monthly student-inspired menu at all high schools.

Transforming School Food: The Cooking up Change Healthy Cooking Contest helped to highlight the challenges school districts face in offering healthy school meals to students and allowed Healthy Schools Campaign and our sponsors to create a positive partnership with the Chicago Public Schools.

Learn more

To learn more about last year’s healthy cooking contest, click here. To learn more about how your company can get involved, please contact Rochelle Davis or call (312) 419-1810.