With the popularity of cooking shows up on TV, chefs have become our new celebrities and many are using their new found celebrity for good. Chefs are hands on, practical, can-do individuals used to the organizational problems of setting up kitchens and procuring supplies. So it is no surprise that in many natural disasters they are among the first responders on site feeding people who have lost everything. Red tape, lack of know-how and difficult communications often hamper governmental agencies, but chefs just know how to feed people, quickly and sustainably.

On other fronts, Alice Waters and Jamie Oliver are working to providing healthier options in schools and educating children and families about how foods actually get to our tables. Roy Choi is addressing the needs of citizens living in food deserts (areas of inner cities where fast food outlets are on every corner, but fresh fruits and vegetables and restaurants serving healthier options are hard to find).

The names in this quilt are only a sampling of the many chefs and their non-profit organizations around the world using their know-how, visibility and popularity to make for a better world where everyone eats better. 

World Central Kitchen is changing the world through the eyes of a chef. As chefs, our work in the kitchen improves health, increases education rates, provides career skills, and creates food businesses. www.worldcentralkitchen.org

The Edible Schoolyard Project builds the capacity of edible education programs with tools and trainings rooted in more than 20 years of experience. www.edibleschoolyard.org 

Chefs to End Hunger provides meals to the hungry by redistributing the excess prepared food that would normally go to waste in hotels, restaurants, and other food service operations to local charitable organizations to serve the meals. www.chefsendhunger.org

Sally Gould Wright is a textile artist living and working in Southern California. Like many, she began as a traditional quilter, but soon moved into the realm of art quilts and prefers to indulge her  passion for intense color, line and texture in pieces that can be viewed as art for the wall rather than on the bed. Her background in the fine and decorative arts and love for the natural world, including her beautiful state of California, inspire subjects which range from architecture to still life to landscape. www.sallywrightquilts.com