Kids & Chefs Cook for Success Inaugural Program Kicks-Off

Mira Solomon, Healthy Lunchtime Challenge Winner for Georgia, Pairs Up with Food Network Founding Host, Chef Curtis Aikens to Conduct Free Healthy Cooking Demonstration With the Children at the Agape Youth & Family Center

Following on the success of the third annual Healthy Lunchtime Challenge & Kids’ “State Dinner,” a nationwide recipe contest to promote healthy lunches as part of the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative, a new program kicks off this fall, pairing the 2014 winners with renowned local chefs.

Kids & Chefs Cook for Success brings together the skills and talents of restaurant, school, and local chefs, with the 54 passionate and inspiring kid chefs that won this year’s contest. Starting this month, we will be holding three cooking demonstrations in our area, for kids and parents/guardians, showcasing the child’s winning recipe, as well as simple, healthy, and affordable snack and meal recipes from chef Curtis Aikens.

Ten-year old Georgia winner Mira Solomon and Chef Aikens will be joining the children at Agape Youth & Family Center’s after-school program Thursday, September 18 at 4:15pm for the first of their three demonstrations. As part of Let’s Move!’s emphasis on the role cooking plays in a healthy lifestyle, the goal for these demonstrations is to inspire and encourage other kids in our community to incorporate healthy, affordable cooking into their lives and build basic healthy cooking skills. We hope you can attend one of these demonstrations. Look for more information via social media, using the hashtag #Cook4Success, #Agape, #CurtisAikens, or #EpicuriousKids or contact the chef and family directly for more information.

Agape is a 501c3 nonprofit organization, providing academic support, after-school programming and family services.  Agape programming focuses on character development, academic achievement, reading proficiency by third grade, high school graduation and post-graduation placement.  High school seniors enrolled at Agape have a 100% graduation rate.  More information available at www.AgapeAtlanta.org.

The full list of the 2014 Healthy Lunchtime Challenge winners and a free downloadable and printable e-cookbook of the winning recipes is available at letsmove.gov; recipechallenge.epicurious.com; usda.gov; ed.gov.