Interview with Pim Techamuanvivit, Food Blogger and Founder of Menu for Hope

Interview with Pim Techamuanvivit, Food Blogger and Founder of Menu for Hope

Menu for Hope 6
Menu for Hope 6 – an annual online raffle that raises funds for the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) – launched in December 2009 to raise funds for WFP’s Purchase for Progress initiative. Food bloggers worldwide donate food-related raffle prizes, which people can enter to win for a $10 donation. In the past three years, Menu for Hope has raised nearly $250,000 for WFP. In this interview, food blogger Pim Techamuanvivit of Chez Pim talks about why she started the campaign and how she chose this year’s beneficiary program, Purchase for Progress, which helps poor farmers gather the skills and tools necessary to enter competitive local markets.

What inspired you to start the annual Menu for Hope campaign six years ago?

I started Menu for Hope right after the tsunami hit Southeast Asia in 2004. I’m from Thailand, so that was close to home for me, and I thought I’d do something to help. I got together a handful of food bloggers who are friends of mine, and we started the first Menu for Hope. It was a small effort, but it came together pretty quickly. We raised about $1,000 for the Red Cross to help tsunami victims. Menu for Hope has certainly come a long way since then.

Why is WFP a meaningful organization to food bloggers?

WFP is meaningful because of what it does – fight hunger worldwide. As a community of food bloggers, we’re all interested in food and spend the entire year talking about it. We eat and cook and buy food. Our audience is also interested in food. So I think it’s a good synergy.

For us, food is an indulgence, something we enjoy. At the same time, there are people in the world who are not so lucky to think of food the same way. For them, getting enough to eat is an everyday struggle. Once a year we need to acknowledge the hungry people in the world who don’t have the access and luxury that we do with food, and it’s good to do something to help. You can see it resonates with our audience and community because we’ve been raising a lot of money. These efforts demonstrate how much we all care.

Why did you choose to benefit WFP’s Purchase for Progress program this year?

Women in Uganda work the fields as part of WFP’s Purchase for Progress initiative.

Women in Uganda work the fields as part of WFP’s Purchase for Progress initiative.

We like to support a specific program because it gives us a closer connection to the people we’re helping. For the last several years we’ve donated our proceeds to WFP’s School Meals program. Menu for Hope not only raises money but also raises awareness among our community, so I asked WFP to suggest which programs need to be brought to the forefront.

When WFP mentioned Purchase for Progress, I was immediately drawn to it because of the community aspect – helping local farmers supply food to local food assistance programs. It’s great because this whole concept of local food has recently been an issue for foodies around the world. We shop at farmers’ markets and support local businesses and farmers, so I think this is an excellent way to extend that mindset to the people we’re helping as well. With Purchase for Progress, we can help local economies and small farmers grow at the same time. It’s a beneficial program and I’m glad we’re going to help publicize it and support it.

How does Menu for Hope work?

Menu for Hope is a fundraising raffle that runs from Monday, December 14 until Friday, December 25. Food bloggers everywhere offer prizes such as fancy dinners, cooking classes, autographed cookbooks,  photography and homemade cookies. For each $10 donation, participants can choose to enter the raffle for one prize. For $100, a person can enter 10 different raffles or one raffle 10 times. A computer program randomly selects the winners for each prize. The winners will be announced on my blog, Chez Pim, the week of January 18.

What are some of the raffle prizes up for grabs this year?

Naming just a few is tricky because so many great prizes have been donated. Each blogger who participates offers something meaningful to his or her audience – not necessarily valuable in dollars, but valuable in sentiment. We have many people helping – more than 80 percent of our donors donate less than $100, but it adds up to more than $10,000 every year. That is a lot of people giving just a little bit.

Learn more about Menu for Hope 6 and purchase your raffle tickets.