Menu for Hope 2009

Menu For Hope is an annual fundraiser participated in by food bloggers around the globe to raise money for a world cause — which has included the U.N. World Food Programme and a school lunch program in Lesotho, Africa — which runs December 15-25. Last year the fundraiser raised over $60,000! For every US$10 donated, the donor receives a virtual raffle ticket toward a prize of his or her choice. The full list of raffle prizes is here; the West Coast list is on ’s fabulous blog here. At the end of the two-week fundraising period the raffle tickets are drawn and the winners will be announced at , who has organized and run the drive since its inception.

This year funds raised will go to support a new initiative at the WFP called Purchase for Progress (P4P). P4P enables smallholder and low-income farmers to supply food to the UN global food operations and strengthens the local economy by creating jobs. Rather than just distributing food, they are building a food system, empowering participants to become self-reliant. Read more about Purchase for Progress .

My contribution to this very worthy cause is a coffee package from San Francisco — specifically, a delicious 1/2 pound of my very favorite made right here in the Bay Area, a pretty new mug to drink it in, and a yummy home-made baked good such as a cake or sweet bread or a batch of cookies, or or or (it can be made to suit specific dietary restrictions, ie: vegan, gluten-free, extra butter, etc.). This is my third year donating this particular prize, and I have to say I think it would make the perfect gift for the coffee-swilling-sweets-loving person in your life — or for yourself.

The code for my prize is: UW03

The link for the raffle is here on

It works like so: for each $10 donation you get one ticket for the raffle item of your choice. The more you donate, the greater your chances are of winning. If you wanted to donate $50, you could select five different prizes, or you could put all five raffle tickets towards the same item, increasing your chances. Winners are selected at random, and notified in January.

For more great prizes, see:

(US East Coast)
(US West Coast)
(Canada)
(UK and Europe)
(Australia and New Zealand)
(Wine)

To Donate and Enter the Menu for Hope Raffle



1. Choose a bid item or bid items of your choice from our Menu for Hope main bid item list. 



2. Go to the donation site at Firstgiving and make a donation. 



3. Please specify which bid item you’d like in the ‘Personal Message’ section in the donation form when confirming your donation. You must write-in how many tickets per bid item, and please use the bid item code. 

Each $10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a bid item of your choice. For example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for EU01 and 3 tickets for EU02 – 2xEU01, 3xEU02. 



4. If your company matches your charity donation, please check the box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match. 



5. Please check the box to allow us to see your email address so that we can contact you in case you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.



Check back on Chez Pim on Monday, January 18 for the results of the raffle.

Thanks so much!