Rachael Ray's Non-profit Organization Yum-o!

A core part of Yum-o!'s mission is helping kids reach their food-related career goals by funding culinary school scholarships. Applications for the 2010 scholarships will be due this spring, so be on the lookout for more information!

For some inspiration, we checked in with Aria Anastasio, a 2008 scholarship recipient who attended the French Culinary Institute (FCI). After working at Marisol at the Cliffs in Pismo Beach, CA upon graduation, Aria currently works at the Cass House in Cayucos, CA while setting her sights on her ultimate dream of opening two cake shops, one on each coast!

Writer T.W. Barritt recently featured Yum-o!'s Director, Andrew Kaplan, in his Culinary Types blog, which chronicles his day-to-day encounters with all things edible and the extraordinary people who grow, prepare, study, celebrate and eat food. In Barritt's interview with Andrew, he captures the inspiration and vision for Yum-o! and his commitment to the heart of Yum-o!'s mission: getting kids involved in the kitchen...

ABC's Nightline recently caught up with Rachael at P.S. 89 in New York City to discuss why she believes the food served in schools is so important. Joining her as she helped serve up Yum-o!'s first school lunch in conjunction with the NYC SchoolFood program, Nightline's Cynthia McFadden interviewed Rachael, who explained her passion around ensuring that all children have access to nutritious food.

For the second year in a row, Yum-o! enlisted the help of the Rachael Ray studio audience to support one of our core work areas: feeding hungry kids and raising awareness about the issue of hunger in America.

(New York, NY) — In an effort to highlight the continuous strides that the NYC Department of Education’s Office of SchoolFood is making towards promoting healthy food choices to New York City students and to encourage students and their families to develop healthy relationships with food and cooking, daytime host and best-selling author Rachael Ray, the Office of SchoolFood and the Yum-o! organization, Rachael Ray’s nonprofit organization, have partnered to create an exciting, delicious and nutritious lunch menu to be served in more than 1,600 New York City public schools, across all five boroughs. On October 26, 2009, Ray was joined at the announcement of the partnership at PS89/IS289 in Manhattan by Deputy Mayor Dennis M. Walcott, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, Deputy Chancellor Kathleen Grimm, State Senator Daniel L. Squadron, Chief Executive for SchoolFood Eric Goldstein, Chef Jorge Collazo and Principals Veronica Najjar of PS 89 and Ellen Foote of IS 289.