SippitySup

A Fundraiser For Haiti at Sup’s! House- You Know You Wanna Go!

There is something important happening in the food blog world and I have volunteered my house for part of it. Here are the details from The Duo Dishes. Please participate, attend, donate or help get the word out in any way you can. GREG

Perhaps you’ve seen the Facebook page, Twitter hashtag #stirit28 or just received an email. There’s a movement coming together, and we hope it will include you–the foodie in you. No matter how you define foodie, we’re going to say it’s anyone who loves and appreciates the value, nutrition, sustenance, comfort and necessity of food. We understand and recognize the utter importance of food as it relates to our personal lives. As food bloggers, we are lucky to eat well, whether we do it lavishly or on a budget. Regardless, we are lucky. Following the January 12th earthquake in Haiti, the world was silenced by the devastation brought upon an already impoverished country. The recovery process has been slow and difficult considering the circumstances. People are trying to piece their lives together, but it will take months on the short-term side, years on the long-term.

But realizing they were in a position to help Chrystal of The Duo Dishes, Bren of Flanboyant Eats and Courtney of Coco Cooks, have formed Stir It 28: Food Bloggers Align for Haiti Relief–a blogger based fundraising effort to bring money to Haiti. As food plays a very large importance in our lives, we strive to raise money to bring food, water and other necessary supplies to the people of Haiti, which will hopefully do a small part to aid in the short-term relief efforts. These wonderful women are calling on all food bloggers to help make this a nationwide, international even, movement during the month of February. From February 1st through the 28th, we will do our best to come together as a unified group, along with the food community at large, to help bring relief to the island nation. All money raised during the month will go to Share Our Strength and Yele. Here’s how you can help:

STIR IT 28 FUNDRAISER 
Chrystal, Bren and Courtney will be hosting a food fundraising event on Sunday, February 21st in the cities where they reside–Los Angeles, Atlanta and Chicago. They are asking chefs, restaurants, home cooks and food bloggers to participate by donating 2–3 dishes that will feed 15–20 people each. The events will be open to the public with advanced tickets or limited ticket sales at the door. You can tell your friends and colleagues to purchase tickets from  Bren or Courtney’s blogs. Click the image that says “Purchase Tickets For STIR IT 28 Culinary Event-Feb. 21st”. Be sure to indicate the city’s event that you plan to attend. Of course, if you are part of the volunteer team (that includes making food or working the event), you will not have to purchase a ticket. We’re still formulating our respective evening’s details, but here’s what we have so far:

Atlanta
Where: TBD
When: 4–7 PM
*DJ Rev Lee will make you shake your rump to each food station! Special surprise live performance by popular Atlanta-based artist!
*Complimentary wine courtesy of Montaluce Winery!
*Cash bar
$30 in advance
$40 at the door

Chicago
Where: Three Peas Art Lounge, 75 E. 16th Street (Between Michigan and Wabash), Chicago, IL 60616
When: 3–6 pm
$30 in advance
$35 at the door
*Cash bar and delicious house cupcakes for sales

Los Angeles
Where: Sippity Sup’s house in the Hollywood Hills Contact GREG for the address
When: 4–7 pm
$30 in advance
$35 at the door
*Complimentary Valet will be available for first 50 attendees!

Washington, DC
* Details TBD. If you are in DC, and are interested, please email Stirit28@​gmail.​com with the subject: STIR IT DC

Each event requires donations of food, so if you’d like to share your talent of cooking with the public, this is your opportunity. You don’t have to cook to be part of the fundraiser. We’ll need help with media/publicity, set-up/clean up, serving, working the door, etc. You can be part of this! Contact each respective person to let them know you want to be on the team.

Los Angeles:
Chrystal
chrystal@​duodishes.​com
@theduodishes

Atlanta:
Bren
bren@​flanboyanteats.​com
@BrenHerrera

Chicago:
Courtney
cococooks@​hotmail.​com
@glamah

28 DAYS OF DONATIONS
If you are not in LA, Atlanta or Chicago, you can still help raise money. Perhaps donate what you would normally spend to create a dish for a post or give the amount you’d spend on a lunch or dinner out with friends. It’s not about how much you give, but the spirit in which you decided to help others. We understand that economic times are hard, but even $1 over 500 or more bloggers would make a difference. Spread the word to your friends, tell your families. Talk to restaurants in your area, chat with cooking school, visit bakeries! The idea is to bring the food community together as a whole, so anyone who lives and loves food should hear the word. You can donate through Paypal. The associated email address for the donation is stirit28@​gmail.​com

ONE COMMENT. ONE EATS
Bren has a hunger campaign called One Comment. One Eats., and this is a great opportunity to combine this effort with our Haiti relief project. For every comment you receive on your first post of February, we hope you donate one non-perishable food item to Share Our Strength. You can campaign for the full month of February in order to get as many comments as possible. We will let you know how to get your food to Share Our Strength. Email Bren directly at bren@​flanboyanteats.​com to get your badge that reads: “I gave to One Comment. One Eats.”

SPREAD THE WORD
We can only make this work if everyone bands together. The cool thing about food bloggers is that we are a supportive bunch. Most of us have never met, but we forge virtual relationships with people in our own cities and across the world over food. If we combined that same strength and applied it to a great cause, imagine how powerful it would be! Sign up as a cook/volunteer for the LA, Atlanta or Chicago events, join the Facebook page, use the Twitter hashtag #stirit28, get the word out to your friends, solicit donations, sell tickets. We can make a huge difference! And for anyone in any city who is interested in starting their own fundraiser event, please email stirit28@​gmail.​com to let us know. You do not have to have a huge blow-out. An intimate dinner of 10 or 15 on Sunday, February 21st will still make a difference! As long as we’re donating as a solid group of the food community, that’s all that matters.

We hope you’ll join in the Stir It 28 movement. We’re excited to get started, and we want you on the team!