Friends in Deed is a Pasadena based Non-Profit, that supplies Food, Shelter, and Support to the community. 

 

On June 23rd they had a fundraising event that they branded “Cooking for a Cause”. In partnership with ICE (Institute of Culinary Education) the local culinary academy, they created a “Top Chef” styled cooking competition where student teams would create unique dishes from only food available at the Friends in Deed Food Pantry. All six teams got the same ingredients and created completely unique main dish / dessert pairings that were then judged by two notable Pasadena Chefs. The entire event was attended by local donors both in the kitchen and adjacent viewing kitchen, and also live streamed.

To promote the event beforehand we shot portraits of each of the team members that were then used to announce the campaign, engage with the community, and entice donors and sponsorship. For the photo session we were on location at ICE, getting the student / team members between classes and ultimately had each one for only about 5 minutes. It was a whirlwind high energy shoot and we had a blast. Truly a feel good project all the way around. 

As of the June 23rd event, the donations had exceeded $100,000.00, which will go directly to support the FID Food Pantry and needs of the community.