This guest post by friend-of-the-blog and contributor at Jewlicious, Eli Winkleman. Eli founded Challah for Hunger to raise money and awareness for hunger- and disaster-relief through the production and sale of challah bread. She also makes the most amazing chocolate chip vegan challah on planet earth.
Five years ago, I started baking challah at Scripps College mostly because I was bored and I needed to find my place on campus. People heard that I was baking every Thursay at the Hillel and showed up to learn from me. They came back the next week, complaining that their friends ate all their challah.
Challah for Hunger was born. Challah for Hunger chapters bake and sell challah–each chapter makes 30 to 400 loaves per week–and donate their profits to other organizations that provide aid for hunger- and disaster-relief. Through the challah baking and selling operations, many other outcomes occur: community building, Jewish identity development, leadership training, empowerment in the kitchen, critical philanthropy training, and more.
In May 2008, there were six chapters of Challah; today there are almost thirty. Last week, our first non-college based chapter at the New Orleans Jewish Day School baked two hundred loaves of challah. This week, at the University of Michigan, students are putting on a challah-tasting, as a kick-off for launching their chapter next semester; they’re expecting over 200 people.
In the past five years, Challah for Hunger has raised more than $125,000 to donate. Half of that was raised in 2009. This semester alone, chapters baked 10,000 loaves of challah.
Needless to say, things have been busy lately. And they’re just getting busier: We have a list of more than 40 people who want to start Challah for Hunger chapters in their communities. It’s a challenge to keep up with, but it’s great!
We have a really big opportunity to sustain our growth, and it’s through Chase Community Giving. Chase Bank is giving $25,000 grants to 100 organizations, based on voting on the Chase Facebook application. Please help us out by voting today.