One of the biggest challenges for families today is eating healthy. With the ease of fast food and the abundance of cheap, processed foods, busy families often choose convenience over nutrition. Enter Chef Marshall O’Brien. His mission is to educate and empower people to achieve quality lives through smart nutrition. He believes when families eat smart, they can lead happier, healthier lives and learn positive habits they will carry with them for the rest of their lives.
Energetic and passionate, Chef Marshall spreads his message to kids through hands-on cooking demonstrations. During the month of May, MATTER teamed up with Chef Marshall at several YMCA locations across the Twin Cities to educate young people on the fun of cooking nutritious and delicious meals using the recipes and ingredients from our MATTERbox. Encouraging kids to participate in making a meal and sharing it together makes for a memorable experience that can have a lasting impact on kids and their families.
“Doing these cooking demonstrations allows us to show how food can be fun, how it can taste great, and help educate parents and kids that great tasting, nutritious food can help them do their best.” Chef Marshall O’Brien
For many of these kids, access to nutritious food is limited, especially during the summer months when they’re out of school. Our You MATTER snack packs help to fill that gap. For the YMCA’s Senior Program Director Kate Whitby, that’s an important aspect of the Y’s partnership with MATTER.
“We understand that a lot of these young people get breakfast and lunch at a free or reduced price at school and might have issues with access to food while they’re at home and during the summer. The Y wants to partner with MATTER because we have the same goals.”
On Thursday, June 14, MATTER will be at the Mall of America for our annual MATTERbox Madness to pack hundreds of thousands of meals for kids this summer in partnership with 5 Eyewitness News Summer Harvest for Kids campaign. There will also be a live telethon televised from the Mall of America beginning at 6:00 a.m. to take donations for MATTER and The Food Group that will provide healthy food for kids this summer. Be watching throughout the day or come visit us and learn more about how you can help. We’d love to see you there!
KSTP 5 Eyewitness News recently featured our partnership cooking demonstrations with Chef Marshall. Watch it here.
