Hello all,

In the spirit of Thanksgiving week, I write to you today not only as a
cooking fanatic, a food-enjoying enthusiast, but as a young dreamer
who wants you to help me make my wish come true! Two years ago, I
started an organization called Cooking for Love at my alma mater,
Johns Hopkins University, that helped combine my two major hobbies in
life: cooking and serving the community. In this club, students have
the opportunity to learn how to cook different ethnic cuisines.
However, instead of eating the different ethnic food after we prepare
them, we deliver and serve these hot meals to a local shelter for
homeless women. Not only were these women excited to enjoy a decent
meal, but for the most part, ethnic cuisines such as Indian food and
Thai food are luxuries that these women have never experienced. This
makes it a memorable treat for these women.

With Thanksgiving around the corner, many will be reminded of the
importance of feeding and providing for those less fortunate in our
society. Many will go and volunteer in soup kitchens this week.
However, the 200+ members and I help bring the spirit of Thanksgiving
every week to the needy of Baltimore.

Hence, cooking each week in large quantities is no cheap endeavor, and
this is how you can come in and help. No, I'm not asking you to open
up your wallets. Simply click on this link:
www.ideashappen.msn.com/Entries and vote for Cooking for Love under
the Community section. If Cooking for Love, already one of the ten
finalists among thousands of entries, can finish in the top 4 of this
national competition hosted by VISA and MSN, the club will win
$25,000. This will allow C4L to not only survive, but also thrive in
continuing its efforts to help the Baltimore community and potentially
allow the club and its efforts expand to other communities!

I really really appreciate your help! I have seen the smiles that
Cooking for Love has provided for those that we serve. I dream of
many many more of these smiles, and I sincerely hope you will vote and
help me experience them!