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One of the consequences of the nation's recession is an increase in hunger. New York City's leading hunger relief organization is City Harvest. The organization reports that 400,000 people in New York City suffer from moderate or severe hunger - 118,000 of them are children. The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ has been a supporter of City Harvest for years, donating food on a daily basis, and giving the organization space to hold fundraising events.

This fall, The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ is doing even more. First, The Institute will make a donation to City Harvest equal to 5% of the face value of all pre-holiday gift certificate sales.

Second, The Institute chose to make "Hunger In New York" the primary, page-one story in the current issue of The Main Course, the school's quarterly course guide, which is circulated to 85,000 people. The holiday 2001 issue was mailed November 27.

$50,000 Scholarship Fund For Windows of Hope
Family Relief Fund was setup in late September by David Emil and Chef Michael Lomonaco to provide support for the families of foodservice workers who perished on September 11.

One of the fund's goals is to help with surviving children's education. To help with this aspect, the Institute has setup a $50,000 scholarship fund for surviving spouses, sons or daughters to attend the school's diploma program in Culinary Arts, Pastry & Baking, or Culinary Management during 2002. In addition to the scholarships, via employee donations and company matching, The Institute has made a $6,000 cash contribution to Windows of Hope.

Supporting Restaurants
Lastly, The Institute is cognizant of the revenue loss that so many New York City restaurants have been facing with the triple burden of recession, terrorism fears and the downturn in business travel. One of the ways the school has chosen to help is to send and pay for all career classes to go out to lunch or dinner. Accordingly, over the past five weeks, over 80 students, accompanied by their Chef-Instructors, have gone to over eight different restaurants including Chicama, Tribeca Grill, Felidia, Eleven Madison Park, Aquavit, Peasant and Guastavino.

Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ ICE

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ (ICE®) is New York City's award-winning center for culinary education. Founded in 1975 by Peter Kump, the school offers highly regarded 8- to 12-month career training programs in Culinary Arts, Pastry & Baking Arts, Culinary Management and Hospitality Management. With an intensive curriculum, dedicated Chef Instructors, a strong record in externship placements and a clear entrepreneurial focus, ICE is widely regarded as a great pathway to begin or continue a culinary career. ICE also runs the largest program of hands-on recreational cooking classes and wine education courses in the country, with more than 26,000 enthusiasts taking any of the 1,500 classes offered each year. In 2008, ICE was named the International Association of Culinary Professionals' (IACP) Culinary School of the Year and a School of Distinction by the ACCSCT in 2006. ICE's 42,000 square-foot facility is open seven days and nights a week, 350 days a year and is located at 50 W. 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010. More information can be found at www.iceculinary.com.