If you like cooking tourism shows, then you’re in for a treat. Chicago restauranteur and anti-hunger advocate Joey Morelli is using a series of videos taken during his travels to support his global charity mission, Joey’s Food Fight.
You might be passionate about feeding the millions of people going hungry every day, but what can you do about it? Donating to charity is the obvious answer for most of us, but it can be tough to tell where your money is going or how much of an impact it's having once it leaves your bank account.
Joey Morelli doesn't want you to wonder whether or not he's making a difference with your donations. He wants you to watch him do it. That's why he founded Joey's Food Fight and got his camera rolling, so that you can watch him travel to the places where his help is needed, build clean and sustainable kitchens, and cook for hungry children using local ingredients sourced from their own markets.
You can check out his videos at https://www.joeysfoodfight.com
"My videos are all about showing people the lasting effects of what I'm doing," says Morelli. "I look for opportunities to help. When I find one, I say 'yes,' I raise as much honest money as I can, and then I show my donors exactly where their money is going through my website and social media platform."
Most of Morelli's videos showcase his recent trip to Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia, where he worked at an orphanage operating in one of the city's most impoverished districts. He started by rebuilding their kitchen, transforming it from a crumbling room equipped with nothing but a single-burner stove into a clean and functional space with a three-compartment sink and modern appliances like a stove, oven, grill, and refrigerator.
Morelli also taught the kids how to cook for themselves during his stay, enlisting the help of the older children and showing them how to use good hygiene and sanitation practices to ensure that their meals were safe to eat. When he left, he did so knowing that the skills and equipment he'd provided would continue to help feed hungry children long into the future.
More recent footage has been posted from Chicago, where Morelli has spent the last eight weeks working with volunteers for the Chicago Help Initiative to feed the local homeless population and refugees from Venezuela and Ukraine.
"I'm just letting the universe guide me to where I'm needed and doing my best for the people that it brings me to," Morelli says. "Wherever I go, you can bet that I'll be recording everything I do so that people can see the impact we're having and get themselves involved."
How can you help? It's very simple. Joey is raising funds right now for a trip to Manilla in the Philippines later this year, where he will do another chef residency at a pair of orphanages near the city.
Head over to https://www.joeysfoodfight.com right now, and check out the videos. If you enjoy what you see, give them a "like" and subscribe to their channel on YouTube. Tell your friends to do the same, and consider giving a donation so that Joey can continue the good work in Manilla. When you do, you won't have to wonder if you're making a difference.
You'll be able to watch it happen in each new video.
