Chefs on Bikes - Riding to End Childhood Hunger
By Jessie Sherrer | July 18, 2007
June 26th marked the 4th Annual Share Our Strength's Chefs on Bikes presented by Fortessa event. Chefs on Bikes is a day-long motorcycle rally filled with lovely meals and several 100 mile rides through the beautiful Virginia countryside.
Participating chefs were invited to either pay a $150 registration fee or agree to raise a minimum of $500 for the event. Most chose to raise the $500 minimum and really went above and beyond with their fundraising. Almost all of them have worked with Share Our Strength in the past, participating in Taste of the Nation, Tasteful Pursuit, Great American Bake Sale or any number of other opportunities that we offer, and they are passionate about our mission to end childhood hunger.
The day kicked off with an amazing breakfast hosted and donated by Star Restaurant Group's Indigo Landing right on the Potomac River in Alexandria, VA. We had roughly 60 riders show up -- a great turn out! Local News Channel 4 sent a camera and caught some great footage of the chefs zooming out of the Indigo Landing parking lot all decked out in their biker gear and their black Chefs on Bikes t-shirts. The noise of that many bikes in such a concentrated area is unbelievable but got my adrenaline rushing for what promised to be a very long but really exciting day!
At about 11:30am the bikes began to roll into beautiful Middleburg, Virginia where Market Salamander hosted another lovely meal. The town of Middleburg was more than gracious to our group. The Chief of Police arranged to have lots of parking available and had big lit up welcome signs on both sides of town. The Mayor even showed up for lunch to greet our riders! After lunch, they were off again for another beautiful ride through 100 miles of rolling hillsides with views of the Shenandoah. At around 3:00pm our riders began arriving at our third and final stop of the day, the post-ride party at Chrysalis Vineyards.
Chrysalis Vineyards is a small Virginia winery set up on a hill with magnificent views of the mountains. We had a band (aptly named the Spark Plugs), an amazing spread of food catered and donated by Cuisine Solutions, pork barbeque from Grill Meister, wine tastings, beer, and a suckling pig cooking contest with celebrity judges.
What struck me most about this day was not only the camaraderie these chefs have with each other, but also the many comments and compliments that I received from the group about the event and the work that Share Our Strength does. These guys (and a few gals) are truly committed to helping us in our mission to end childhood hunger. We normally ask them to come out and cook for us at events but while we provided a fun-filled day, their commitment to raising money for us on top of everything else they do was amazing.
As I was hauling trash covered in barbeque sauce and various other condiments at the end of the day, I surprised myself by thinking that I couldn't wait to do it again next year. The relationships that I was able to develop on behalf of Share Our Strength with not only the chefs but our many generous sponsors will, no doubt, translate into many more Share Our Strength supporters who are now excited and educated about our mission to end childhood hunger in America.