Supported by a three-year $125,000 grant from the Emeril Lagasse Foundation, Food for Thought is launching the Full Circle Kitchen program to expand service and commitment to food insecure children and their families in Okaloosa and Walton Counties.

Offered to high school students enrolled in Food for Thought, the Full Circle Kitchen Program will bring students into Food for Thought’s Santa Rosa Beach Pantry where they will learn fundamental cooking skills from restaurant partners and local chefs.

The Full Circle Kitchen program will provide a fully functional teaching kitchen with basic cooking equipment and a safe learning environment to acquire the skills necessary to prepare a meal. Students will build upon the skills they learned the week before in classes designed around limited budgets and access to food.

“By providing life skills, education, and job placement opportunities, we will have seen these children from Kindergarten through graduation and ensured they have the skills to thrive and making a lasting impact on our community,” says Food For Thought Founder and Executive Director Tiffanie Nelson.

The grant from the Emeril Lagasse Foundation will support capital needs, operating expenses and programming efforts associated with the program’s newly constructed teaching kitchen.

 More information about the Emeril Lagasse Foundation is available at www.emeril.org.

About Emeril Lagasse Foundation:

Founded in 2002 by Chef Emeril Lagasse and his wife Alden, Emeril Lagasse Foundation is a 501c(3) public charity headquartered in New Orleans. The Foundation’s mission is to create opportunities to inspire, mentor and enable youth to reach their full potential through culinary, nutrition and arts education with a focus on life skills development. Since its inception, Emeril Lagasse Foundation has granted more than $8 million to several children’s charities to support culinary, nutrition and arts programs. The Foundation was recognized as the 2016 Nonprofit of the Year by Louisiana Association of Non-Profit Organizations. To learn more about the Foundation and its beneficiaries, visit Emeril.org, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

We had another successful year with Destin Charity Wine Auction Foundation, and we are thrilled to receive an amazing donation of $240,000! We are so grateful to everyone who made this possible-- our board members, volunteers, sponsors, DCWAF and FFT staff, Jack and Candis Wilson, and all of our supporters over the years. These funds will be a huge help to start this year off as we add another 7 schools and 1,000 students since this time last year to our food and backpack program.

The Sandestin Foundation for Kids and Food For Thought share a mission of making a positive impact in the lives of children, and we are so grateful for their partnership and support.  The funding from this extraordinary foundation allows us to continue our purpose and program to feed community children weekly and provide classrooms snacks for elementary students to sustain them during class so they may perform at higher levels without the burden of hunger weighing them down.  We thank the Sandestin Foundation for Kids for not only supporting Food For Thought, but for making a meaningful and positive impact on children's lives in many other ways too!!

We are thankful to have ResortQuest as a partner, who supports us with their financial contribution and with volunteerism. With the help of companies like them, we are able to continue fighting child hunger.

We couldn't fight child hunger in our community without the support of our wonderful corporate sponsors!  Thank you Medworx and Performance Rehab for your partnership with Food For Thought. Your support is helping us fulfill our mission.