EMERIL LAGASSE FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES NEW PROGRAM AARÓN SÁNCHEZ IMPACT FUND

Partnership Will Provide Support to Latino Youth

NEW ORLEANS, July 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Emeril Lagasse Foundation announces it has formed a partnership with renowned Chef Aarón Sánchez to create the Aarón Sánchez Impact Fund. The fund will be a program of the Emeril Lagasse Foundation and was developed to focus on two pillars: culinary arts education and human services programming. "We are pleased to be working with our good friend Chef Aarón to help fulfill his philanthropic vision," said Emeril Lagasse. "Our shared mission to enable youth to reach their full potential makes this a perfect alliance." 

The Aarón Sánchez Impact Fund aims to uplift the lives of Latino youth through food. The culinary arts education pillar will diversify kitchen leadership through scholarships, financial support, mentoring, and career pathways guidance for future generations. The Aarón Sánchez Scholarship Fund, established in 2016, will serve as the signature education program of the impact fund. The human services pillar will work toward changing the trajectory of Latino youth lives through better food access, nutrition education, crisis feeding programs, and more. 

"The Emeril Lagasse Foundation has been a great supporter of the Aarón Sánchez Scholarship Fund over the years, and with this new partnership, we can further our reach and impact within a growing Latin population across the U.S.,'' said Aarón Sánchez. "We have just scratched the surface with our culinary scholarships, and while we're proud of what we've accomplished thus far, we're excited to better serve our community in more diverse ways." 

The Emeril Lagasse Foundation has supported the Aarón Sánchez Scholarship Fund since 2016, nurturing students like Camila, a young culinary arts student with El Salvadoran heritage. Camila attended a high school culinary program supported by the Emeril Lagasse Foundation and received a scholarship to attend culinary school from the Aarón Sánchez Scholarship Fund, benefiting from the shared philanthropic works of these two organizations now united in partnership. Since the program's inception, eleven scholarships have been awarded, providing full tuition and supplies to attend culinary school, including room and board, and mentorships from established restaurateurs. Under the partnership of these two chefs' organizations and with the inception of the new Aarón Sánchez Impact Fund, the goal is to support even more young people like Camila.

 About Emeril Lagasse Foundation: Founded in 2002 by Chef Emeril Lagasse and his wife Alden, Emeril Lagasse Foundation is a 501c(3) public charity headquartered in New Orleans. The Foundation's mission is to create opportunities to inspire, mentor and enable youth to reach their full potential through culinary, nutrition, and arts education with a focus on life skills development. Since its inception, Emeril Lagasse Foundation has granted more than $17 million to children's charities to support culinary, nutrition, and arts programs. The Foundation accomplishes this through three programs. The Community Grants program provides program and capital support to nonprofit organizations across the nation. The signature program, Emeril's Culinary Garden & Teaching Kitchen, is a national education initiative created to enrich the lives of elementary and middle school children through a fun, fresh perspective on food. The Aarón Sánchez Impact Fund, the newest program, will provide culinary arts education and human services programming for Latino youth. To learn more about the Foundation and its beneficiaries, visit Emeril.org, or follow on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

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SOURCE Emeril Lagasse Foundation