Bremer Bank Turns up the Heat with Community Cook-Off to End Hunger
St. Paul, Minn. - May 27, 2008 - Bremer Bank is creating a recipe to end hunger and the main ingredient will be the inaugural Bremer Community Cook-Off! The event to benefit Second Harvest Heartland will take place Thursday, June 5, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Seventh Street Park Place in downtown St. Paul. Four cooking teams will do battle, creating a nutritious dinner for 3-4 people made of products typically found at a food shelf. The teams include professional chefs, media personalities, government officials, sports personalities and mascots (full list included below). The event is free and open to the public.
The Otto Bremer Foundation has made a $75,000 donation to Second Harvest Heartland and Bremer is challenging the community to help match or exceed this amount. People attending the cook-off are encouraged to bring their spare change and dollars to donate to Second Harvest Heartland and enter into a drawing for great prizes from area businesses. For every $1 donated, Second Harvest Heartland can provide $9 worth of food and grocery products to local food shelves and families in need. The nonprofit organization is the Upper Midwest’s largest hunger-relief organization serving a 59-county area across Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin.
"We are excited this year to host the Bremer Community Cook-Off, bringing together local personalities and top chefs from the Twin Cities to create dinner plates from products families use every day from food shelves," said Stan Dardis, chief executive officer of Bremer Financial Corporation. "It is our goal to create awareness for the growing hunger needs of this community by having the cooking teams showcase what dinner looks like for a lot of families in the Twin Cities. We encourage everyone to come out and bring their spare change and dollars to donate to Second Harvest Heartland."
The four cooking teams are:
Team Make Change
Chef John Michael Lerma, chef, author and Food Network personality; Chris O'Connell, KSTP-TV; Russ Brown, KSTP-TV; Rob Zeaske, Executive Director of Second Harvest Heartland; Bremer Eagle Mascot
Team Banking to End Hunger
Chef Russell Klein, Meritage Restaurant; MA Rosko, FOX 9 KSMP; Stan Dardis, Chief Executive Officer, Bremer Financial Corporation; Sharky the Mascot, Underwater Adventures Aquarium
Team Lending a Hand
Chef Rino Baglio, Pazzaluna Restaurant; Jason DeRusha, WCCO-TV; St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman; Pat Donovan, President, Bremer Finanical Corporation
Team Funding Hunger Relief
Chef Lance Kapps, M St. Cafe and St. Paul Hotel; Tim McNiff, KARE 11; Rena Sarigianopoulos, KARE 11; Mudonna, St. Paul Saints; Steve Meads, President, Bremer Bank Twin Cities
Judges
Food writers from the Pioneer Press, Star Tribune, Minneapolis-St. Paul Magazine and Minnesota Thunder President Manny Lagos.
Master of Ceremonies
Moon & Staci, KS95 FM
The cook-off is the kick-off event for Bremer's "Make Change" campaign to end hunger with Second Harvest Heartland. Donations can be made throughout June at any Bremer Bank or online at www.bremer.com.
Bremer Financial Corporation
Bremer Financial Corporation is a privately-held, $7.5 billion regional financial services company jointly owned by its employees and the Otto Bremer Foundation. This unique ownership structure is the only one of its kind in the nation. Founded in 1943 by Otto Bremer, the company is headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota and provides a comprehensive range of banking, investment, trust and insurance services to more than 100 locations in Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin. Company profits are distributed in the form of charitable grants by the Otto Bremer Foundation to communities served by Bremer. In 2007, more than $30 million in charitable donations were given across the Bremer footprint and employees donated more than 92,900 volunteer hours to their communities.