The Big Promise Rachael Ray Just Made To Michelle Obama
Just because she's no longer residing in the White House doesn't mean that former First Lady Michelle Obama is giving up on America's children. "Families are still in crisis," Obama said during a recent interview with celebrity chef Rachael Ray on Instagram as the two discussed the topic of food insecurity. "This is not a new issue, it has just been exacerbated by this pandemic."
Through her relationship with the Netflix television show "Waffles + Mochi," the former FLOTUS is furthering her reach to help with this cause. Obama recently partnered with the puppet show to launch the "Pass the Love" campaign, during which they aim to provide about a million meals to families in four major, hard-hit cities per the official website. So far, they've raised funds for 880,000 meals for 18,000 families, Obama said in the Instagram chat, further explaining that "$5 can feed a kid a meal, and kids need more than one meal a day." Inspired by their conversation, Rachael Ray is helping out in the mission in a big way.
Rachael Ray is now getting involved with the "Pass the Love" campaign
It's no secret that Rachael Ray and Michelle Obama have a longstanding friendship, and Ray is taking it to the next level by donating via her foundation to Obama's current "Pass the Love" campaign, which aims to help children affected by food insecurity. During their recent interview on Instagram, Obama revealed the campaign had raised funds for 880,000 meals so far. And Ray is now upping that number, as she said in their chat, "I am committing 10,000 more. Now we're at 890,000."
Blown away by the celebrity chef's continued generosity, Obama said, "We can always count on you, Rachael. Your generosity is out of this world." To which Ray then replied, "You are my forever First Lady."
Michelle Obama is known for her commitment to healthy meals for all children, and made that a big part of the initiatives she started during her time in D.C., per the Obama White House archives. Unfortunately, the work seems to be far from over — per Feeding America, 12 million children and 38 million people in total are considered food insecure in the United States today. At least Ray's help is one big step in the right direction.