Food For Thought Dinner Series: Chef Jim Shirley

Enjoy a 5-course dinner with wine pairings prepared by South Walton's Chef Jim Shirley held on Thursday, October 19 at 7pm in the Emeril Lagasse Foundation Full Circle Kitchen in Santa Rosa Beach.  Tickets are limited and now on sale at fftfl.org/products/fall-thoughtful-dinner-ticket. 

The evening kicks off the Thoughtful Dinner Series to be held in the newly renovated Full Circle Kitchen space in the Santa Rosa Beach location. Food For Thought is honored to announce Chef Jim Shirley as the first chef for the Thoughtful Dinner Series. Nationally recognized restaurateur Chef Jim Shirley is owner of the Great Southern Café, 45 Central, and The Meltdown on 30A in Seaside, Florida, The Bay in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, and Baytowne Provisions in Destin, Florida. He is also the co-owner of Great Southern Restaurants, which owns The Fish House, The Atlas Oyster House, and The Fish House Deck Bar in Pensacola, Florida.

Chef Jim uses Southern accents with great skill and spirit, traveling far afield to graze and glean, absorb culinary ideas, select fine wines, and look for pockets of sustainable farming practices. As a Pensacola native, Chef Jim uses his knowledge of local waters and his families’ farming histories to promote “New Ruralism,” a movement to champion sustainable agriculture at the urban edge.

As an active community leader, Jim dedicates time to many charities and Food For Thought is honored to have Chef Shirley and his team dedicate their time and talents to helping raise money to help children in need in our community. This is a dinner not to be missed!

Tickets are now on sale at fftfl.org/products/fall-thoughtful-dinner-ticket and if a business is interested in sponsoring one of the five courses, please email info@fftfl.org. 

Thoughtful Dinners will be held one each Fall, and one each Spring and will feature a different local guest chef and culinary team. Tickets are $250 per person, or reserve a private table for $2500 for 8 guests.

Full Circle Kitchen  
The Emeril Lagasse Foundation Full Circle Kitchen helps provide skills and additional sources of food to some of the most at-risk students in Okaloosa and Walton counties by providing a variety of classes. The Full Circle Kitchen program provides a fully funcitonal teaching kitchen in a safe learning environment for students to learn cooking skills from local restaurant partners and chefs.  A grant from the Emeril Lagasse Foundation will support capital needs, operating expenses and programming efforts associated with the program’s newly constructed teaching kitchen.

“The Full Circle Kitchen was created to help provide skills and additional sources of food to some of the most at-risk students in Okaloosa and Walton counties by providing a variety of classes - some open to the public, and some life skills classes available for students,” says Tiffanie Nelson, Founder & Executive Director of Food For Thought. “When guests purchase tickets to the Thoughtful Dinner Series, that ticket helps pay for a child to attend classes in the future. A class that provides skills, food, and a new way to engage with others. Our first student classes have been a huge success and the kids can’t wait for the next class.”

Food For Thought now has five ways to provide hunger relief - weekly backpacks during the school year for students receiving free or reduced lunches to close the gap of missed meals over the weekend, monthly snacks provided to teachers in schools receiving Food For Thought services to fight immediate signs of hunger, holiday services to help feed families in need during long breaks from school including summer, garden initiatives at select schools and at the Destin Pantry, and now the Full Circle Kitchen to help provide skills and additional sources of food to some of the most at-risk students in Okaloosa and Walton counties.

As Food For Thought continues to grow, support from the community is needed more now than ever. The local nonprofit expects to grow by over 50% and take on 6 new schools and reach over 2,500 students during the 2017-2018 school year. If you or someone you know would like to donate time, funds, or services to Food For Thought Outreach please email info@fftfl.org or visit fftfl.org

Food For Thought is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization based in Santa Rosa Beach, FL that provides backpacks filled with healthy, easy to prepare food for students who are dependent on free or reduced school meals. Our goal is to support a child’s development and educational experience by bridging the gap between school meals during weekends and holiday breaks.  Food For Thought has been working to fight child hunger since 2010, and in the 2017-2018 school year will serve 29 schools in Walton and Okaloosa Counties, providing backpacks for 2,500 students each week. For more information, such as donation locations, pantry items needed, and opportunities to volunteer, please email info@fftfl.org.

For more information, donation, volunteer info, and ways you can help please visit Food For Thought Outreach: http://fftfl.org/.
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