Kick Hunger Challenge Winner!

John Howie scores for Seattle Food Lifeline

Facts:

Taste of the NFL started 22 years ago.

It is dedicated to kicking hunger (the Kick Hunger Challenge) in America by rallying America's best chefs and the NFL's greatest to support hunger relief.

"The Party with a Purpose" is a strolling food and wine tasting charitable event at the Super Bowl.

NFL teams (and others) go head to head to raise the most money. This year, Taste of the NFL committed to donating $10,000 to the team who raised the most, giving it to their local community.

John Howie has been involved for 10 years.

John and Craig Terrill (musician and former Seahawk) have partnered the past two years on raising funds.

John and Craig won last year with $34,000 (the closest rival was the Patriots team with $17,000).

And 2014? John and Craig were on top, with $83,000 going to Seattle Food Lifeline (but there's more-read below)!

After winning last year, John and Craig knew the pressure would be on. Other teams knew what they were up against and they were ready to compete. "We knew we had to come up with some big ideas," says John. They raffled off a 2013 Toyota Prius, an autographed and framed Russell Wilson jersey, and held a New York New York fundraising dinner at Sport where they announced the winners of the car and jersey, raising about $28,000. $1 from special drinks at all John Howie Restaurants (one at each) from November through January was donated as well, raising $2,500. In addition, John raised money from tickets for the NFC final that he'd gotten by donating to Children's Hospital. Craig got Amos Brothers (t-shirt makers to the stars-Pearl Jam, Nike, NBA) to create and donate a Kick Hunger t-shirt, raising $6,500. Pearl Jam heard about it and they'd created a 12^th Man t-shirt, so they donated all sales of the shirt from one of their concert nights-another $7,500.

It all added up to about $83,000. Then they won the $10,000 top prize money. And Craig did a raffle at the Taste of the NFL, raising another $20,000. Taste of the NFL hoped to raise a million. If so, Seattle Food Lifeline's portion of that would be $22,000. We're talking about $135,000 now. And Food Lifeline can serve three meals for every $1, so approximately 405,000 meals will be served to the hungry in Western Washington from this amazing push from John, Craig and everyone who jumped on the bandwagon.

Brooklyn, a food bank in Brooklyn, New York, came in second with $53,000, and the Atlanta Falcons team raised $21,000. So basically, Seattle's Kick Hunger team won as big as the Seahawks in the Super Bowl!

"There's a party for chefs and players the night before the Super Bowl called the Huddle. Before it begins, there's a meeting where winners are announced," explains John. "This year, we got a standing ovation at the meeting when they announced what we'd raised. We've raised the bar and we want people to get excited about this. We're already working on next year--we want a three-peat!"

Congratulations to John and Craig and everyone who donated to this event. It means the world to people who rely on Food Lifeline.

John has generously agreed to share the recipe for the dish he served at The Taste of the NFL food and wine tasting event. Click here to see it!

February 2014