Monday, November 16, 2015

It's a Chicago Food Day 2015 + Lake County BIG Apple Crunch WRAP


Golly Gee Willackers... FINALLY a recap on our Chicago and Lake County Food Day events!

Better late than never... so here we GO!


I had a ball on the planning committee with Executive Director Dana Garcia (pictured left of me) and Marketing Creative Lead, Bill Bonner. Here we all are with our fantastic Governer's State Volunteers! The event was a huge success at Daley Plaza, anchored by Cathy Kenworthy, CEO of Interactive Health who spoke in front of Daley Plaza about the impact of real food wellness in our lives. I could just feel the electricity buzz stronger at the Farmer's Market after her inspirational speech!

It was an honor to be a part of this year's Chicago Food Day events and I cannot WAIT until next year!! Be sure to visit Foodday.org and check out how our entire nation celebrated!



Gotta have music! Thank you Chicago Ambassador Sarvin and Awatif for volunteering with us!


Look who joined us from Lake County! Ohhhhh... I am still dreaming of our adventures together last Summer at the Prairie Farm Corps!


We kicked off our Hidden Harvest Hunt with three drops at Daley Plaza. Dana and I thought it would be fun to take a cue from Survivor's hidden immunity necklace shenanigans... Would anyone realize that it's an actual envelope and not just a decoration on the podium? 

Learn more about our incredible 3-day +6k sponsored social media treasure hunt that helped 15 Chicagoans BUY + COOK + GROW + EAT more real food HERE


I took the stage after Cathy to kick off our 2015 Hidden Harvest Hunt with a few LIVE Hidden Harvest drops on the Plaza!


He found the hidden immunity necklace... errrrr I mean envelope!


This lucky winner found his at the American Diabetes of Illinois tent!


Our first winner outside of Daley Plaza was literally panting as she came up the escalator with her stroller! She inched out another treasure hunter by only 5 minutes! WHOA!

Huge thanks to the following Hidden Harvest Drop Location Sponsors for making our social media treasure hunt so FUN & INTERACTIVE:


Thank you Foodseum!



Thank you The Chopping Block


HUGE thanks to our Hidden Harvest Hunt inspiration and sponsor, @HiddenCashChi1. This lovely family found their envelope!

The @HiddenCashChi1 twitter handle is at it year round, so don't forget to give them follow and keep up the "pay it forward" cash hunting! ...You never know how much moullah you will find:)





Thank you Uncommon Ground for hosting TWO drops with Farmer Alison at their urban rooftop farm (the 1st certified organic rooftop farm in the USA!) and at their epic Greenstar Brewery with Brewmaster Martin (the 1st certified organic brewery in Illinois!).


Thank you Real Food Northwestern for hosting TWO drops during your very own campus Hidden Harvest hunt! We are so impressed by your week of Food Day activities! GO NU!


Thank you Snap Kitchen!


Thank you Wow Bao!




Thank you Growing Home at the Green City Market

Huge LOVE to Ambassador Christina Erickson for braving our Hidden Harvest in the cold rain with me all day!!!


Thank you Holzkopf's Meat Market!




Thank you Peterson Garden Project's Fearless Kitchen for hosting TWO live drops in your community cooking classes!

The Great Apple Crunch - Lake County


HATS OFF to the Stevenson High School's NEW Food Revolution Club for organizing Lake County's first multi-district Big Apple Crunch!

Over 3500 students at Washington, Mechanics Grove, Fairhaven, Diamond Lake, West Oak, Sprague and Daniel Wright schools took part in the Lake County Apple Crunch for Food Day. Over 2,000 apples were donated by Harvest Time Orchard (Twin Lakes, WI) and hand picked by the SHS Food Rev club. District 76's apples were donated by Preferred Meals. Additional apples were donated by Sunset Foods, Mariano's and Trader Joe's.

The SHS Food Revolution club coordinated the entire Lake County effort from start to finish; I could not be more impressed by the organization and execution of the school events! WOW! 


WELCOME NEW AMBASSADOR SARA LOHRMANN to the Lake County Food Revolution Team! Sara joins me and Ambassador Christina (pictured left) as the SHS Food Rev sponsor. Together we will work to bring more energy to our local Food Revolution efforts happening in our homes + schools + workplaces here in Lake County! 










I got to meet these two amazing co-founders of the SHS Food Revolution Club at West Oak! They took charge and led all four West Oak School lunches in crunching simultaneously. Each student left with a certificate of participation including easy "from scratch" recipe ideas to take home and try out in their own kitchens.


Ambassador Christina + Food Revolution Club SHS = AMAZING!!






Congratulations to all of the apple trivia winners - They won their very own t-shirt prizes!


Big thanks to Mary (hot pink coat) at Preferred Meals for donating apples for District 76's CRUNCH and to Sue Kruckman (far right), our amazing D76 Wellness Committee Chair who helped to organize D76's big lunchroom day!

THANK YOU for supporting food education + more real food in our schools!




And that's a FOOD DAY 2015 WRAP!

See ya next year on and around October 24th!!!!

xoxoxo
L