Join Us to Help
End Childhood Hunger in America
No Kid Hungry Dinner Raleigh
Monday, July 15, 2013
Poole's Diner
426 South McDowell Street
Raleigh, NC 27601
6:00 p.m. - Cocktail Reception
7:00 p.m. - Multi-course seated dinner
Event Chair
Eliza Kraft Olander
Host Chef
Ashley Christensen, Poole's Diner
Participating Chefs
Katie Button, Curate, Ashville, NC
Kristen Hard, Cacoa, Atlanta, GA
Mike Lata, FIG, Charleston, SC
Barry Maiden, Hungry Mother, Boston, MA
Robert Newton, Seersucker, Brooklyn, NY
Ryan Smith, Empire State South, Atlanta, GA
Contact Rachel Mentzer at rmentzer@strength.org or 202-649-4339 with any questions.
Space is limited, RSVP required.
No child in should grow up hungry in America, but one in five children struggles with hunger. Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign is ending childhood hunger in this nation by connecting kids in need with nutritious food and teaching families how to cook healthy, affordable meals. You can help surround kids with the nutritious food they need where they live, learn and play.
Chef Ashley Christensen
Since making Raleigh her home, Ashley Christensen has sought to foster community through food, philanthropy and the stimulation of the city’s downtown neighborhood.
Ashley began cooking during college, throwing dinner parties for her friends and family. These intimate gatherings helped her recognize her passion for cooking and sharing food, and ultimately led to her first professional cooking job at the age of 21. Upon taking the position, she knew she had found her life’s work.
After working in some of the Triangle’s top kitchens, Ashley opened Poole’s Diner in 2007, which takes its name and décor from the building’s original tenant--one of downtown Raleigh’s first restaurants. The shotgun space offers an evolving chalkboard menu of comfort-food classics, re-imagined through a philosophy of locally grown, seasonal ingredients and French-influenced technique.
In 2011, Ashley opened three new ventures, all housed in a corner building once occupied by a Piggly Wiggly. Beasley’s Chicken + Honey is an ode to fried chicken and classic Southern sides; Chuck’s offers burgers and frites with signature updates; and Fox Liquor Bar, housed in the building’s basement, features a menu of more than 50 craft cocktails, as well as beer, wine and bar snacks.
When she’s not in the kitchen, Ashley focuses her time on a number of local and regional charities. She is a board member of the Frankie Lemmon foundation and a co-chair of its annual fundraising event, Triangle Wine Experience. She is also an active member of the Southern Foodways Alliance and founded the quarterly event, Stir the Pot, in which she hosts visiting chefs at Poole’s and in her home to raise funds for the SFA’s documentary initiatives.
Ashley’s work has gained national attention from such publications as Bon Appétit, Gourmet, The New York Times, Southern Living and Garden & Gun. Ashley was named one of the “Female Chefs of the Next Generation” by Bon Appétit in 2008 and is a three-time James Beard semi-finalist for “Best Chef: Southeast.” She has appeared on Food Network’s popular series Iron Chef America and MSNBC’s Your Business.
Visit Ashley behind the stoves at Poole’s or follow her on Twitter at @poolesdiner.
For the past twenty years Billy Harris has been wowing audiences around the world. A cousin of Vaudeville great Georgie Jessel, Billy has been performing his entire life. By the tender age of five and a half, he understood how to "work a room"!
Billy’s razor-sharp timing, comedic style and brilliant improvisational skills have made him one of the most sought-after Auctioneer’s in the business.
Billy has raised millions of dollars for Share Our Strength, Autism Speaks, The New York Food Bank, Alex’s Lemonade Stand, James Beard Foundation, ALS Foundation, Junior Achievement, and the Mario Batali Foundation.
When he’s not "performing," Billy, his wife Sharon, daughter Georgie, and dog Missy divide their time between Los Angeles and New York.
