KENDRA FARN TO HOST ROCKIN’ RAMP BENEFIT FOR APPALACHIA
Charity Brings Taste of Appalachia to Greenwich
Fundraiser on November 5, 2011, at the Arch Street Teen Center
(Greenwich, Conn., October 2, 2011) – Kendra Farn, the Emmy award-winning journalist who has been telling stories on television for more than 20 years, will be telling true life tales about helping poverty stricken families in Appalachia to Greenwich residents on Saturday, November 5, 2011, at the second annual RAMP Benefit for Appalachia in Greenwich. The charity event will be held at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, November 5, the Arch Street Teen Center. Whole Foods Market®, one of RAMP’s corporate sponsors, will be providing all of the food at the event, which includes Appalachian-styled Oysters with Kentucky Mignonette, Short Rib Burgoo, Smokehouse Brisket Sliders, Shrimp & Grits, Appalachian Stack Cake, and Sarsaparilla Floats. Also on the menu is wine and Kentucky Bourbon tastings. A terrific silent and live auction will also be held and guests will be greeted with an authentic Bluegrass Jug Band. Tickets are $125 per person and are available online at http://www.RAMPAmerica.org.
RAMP, or the Rockin’ Appalachian Mom Project, is a non-profit organization founded by Greenwich resident and food and beverage entrepreneur Amy Guerrieri. RAMP is dedicated to making a difference in the lives of poverty-stricken children and families in the Appalachian region of the United States through nutrition. RAMP’s mission is to provide basic needs and sustain food pantries that serve the neediest in the community, improve the nutritional well being of local residents, and create sustainability by mentoring income generating projects that will bring economic growth and lasting change. Working community-to-community, family-to-family, Mom-to-Mom, and kid-to-kid, RAMP is making a difference.
RAMP currently supports seven programs in Martin County, Kentucky, one of the most poverty-stricken areas of the United States. Those programs are: a Backpack Snack Program that provides food home on weekends to school children, who would otherwise not eat; School Gardens to grow fresh produce on school property for use in school lunches and for children to take home; School Salad Bars to provide fresh produce on a regular basis during school lunches; a food pantry that sustains 150 of the neediest families in a remote hollow; nutritional education that encompasses working with families and teaching them how to shop smartly, and in-school nutritional seminars and programs for the whole family; Micro Loans to entrepreneurs in Martin County that are interested in starting a business or expanding on an existing small business – RAMP has just issued its first Micro Loan and helped launch Calf Creek Creations, an Appalachian quilting and sewing project that sells aprons and quilts in select Whole Foods Market stores; and the RAMP Mobile Community Co-Op, which is a mobile bus that takes RAMP’s programs and services directly out into the community to reach families with food, nutrition education, and services they need.
RAMP’s work in Martin County, Kentucky, has in a short-time, made a big difference to area residents – and RAMP’s work has not gone unnoticed. RAMP has been featured on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams twice, the Today Show, and ABC TV went last summer to film an update for its “Hidden America” story including RAMP’s work. RAMP also received an official proclamation from the Governor of Kentucky Steve Beshear.
“I’m very excited to help host RAMP’s Rockin’ Benefit for Appalachia,” noted Kendra Farn. Farn, a mother of two daughters, understands the importance of good nutrition for children and is excited to be working with a non-profit that is so focused on helping children and families here in the United States.
Kendra Farn has worked at numerous television stations including WCBS-TV, WNBC-TV, and was a weekend reporter with the CBS Evening News. As a Greenwich native, she has traveled as far away as war-torn Bosnia and covered high profile stories throughout her career. She currently runs P Garyn Productions with her husband Noah Finz, the longtime sports anchor on Connecticut’s ABC station, WTNH-TV. P Garyn Productions is a production company that produces television shows, commercials and videos for companies to use for advertising and marketing needs.
Last summer, Whole Foods Market’s mid-Atlantic management team learned about RAMP’s efforts and joined forces with RAMP bringing Whole Foods Market’s enthusiastic staff and resources on board to bring about nutrition education and lasting change in the Appalachian region. In honor of this partnership, Whole Foods Market is supporting RAMP at the November fundraiser by providing all of the food, wine and Kentucky Bourbon, and its management staff, which will be busy manning the food tables and serving up delicious tastes of Appalachia.
Amy Guerrieri, RAMP’s founder, just returned from her 20+ trip to Martin County, Ky., where RAMP worked with a team of healthy eating specialists from Whole Foods Market and hosted a “RAMP Family Fun & Food Night.” Guerrieri is thrilled to be able to bring a taste of Kentucky to her hometown area. Guerrieri is the mother of four school-aged children, and also the founder of Rockin’ Water, a children’s vitamin-enhanced water. She believes that helping children and families in America is the right thing to do.
“RAMP has had an incredible two-and-a-half years working in Kentucky,” noted Guerrieri. “A group of dedicated volunteers from the CT/NYC area have been down there numerous times, working with the local residents and trying to help them improve their lives through nutrition. The people of Appalachia are so appreciative of our efforts to help. And now, to be able to bring a bit of the Appalachian heritage and story up to the Greenwich area is a great experience – and one that will open the eyes to many about the dire issue of poverty – just a mere day’s drive from here – and in the United States.”
To learn more about RAMP and its programs, visit http://www.RAMPAmerica.org.
Whole Foods Market is the leading natural and organic food retailer and currently has more than 280 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Whole Foods Market was recently honored with the International Association of Culinary Professionals “Culinary Youth Advocate of the Year” and received an Award of Excellence for its effort to help improve school lunches for children nationwide with the “School Lunch Revolution” awareness campaign.
Serendipity magazine is also a sponsor of the Rockin’ RAMP Benefit for Appalachia.
