Word of Mouth Wednesday: Hosea Rosenberg & StrEAT Chefs mobilize to feed victims of Colorado fires

Photo via Meg Denbow's Facebook Page - thanks Meg! (Hosea was my Mom's favorite, too.)

Update via email from Hosea: “[StrEAT] is donating food today and then tomorrow we will be setting up a station at a local business and accepting donations. Thursday from 4-8pm we will be at Common Threads (2707 Spruce) with some other local businesses taking in donations of money, clothing, blankets, food, etc. We will also be donating a percentage of our sales for the day.”

Like I needed another reason to be impressed with Top Chef 5 winner, Hosea Rosenberg? The dude is following the Spider-Man (geek/food lover crossover reference, beware!) code of ethics, “With great power comes great responsibility” following his 2009 TC win.

Hosea first really popped up on on my radar when he began actively tweeting and blogging about his distress over the BP Oil Disaster and how it was affecting the economy and environment of the Gulf Coast. (Myself, as someone who lived and worked and loved New Orleans and the Gulf Coast for years, his advocacy for the beaten and bruised region of the country which everyone seems to forget about did not go unnoticed.) He was gracious enough to give me a quote for my own BP article on Geek Girl on the Street.

Since then I’ve been keeping an eye on what he was up to. He’s definitely not following in the footsteps of most TC winners who have faded into general obscurity following their win, (I mean does anyone really know what Hung Huynh or Illan Hall are doing?) Yeah Stephanie Izzard*, Howard Dieterle and Michael Voltaggio* all have medium visibility, but they’ve settled into running their own restaurants and you don’t really hear much about them unless you’re really involved in the food and wine scene. Hosea, however, seems to have a somewhat philanthropic and sorta political agenda that he’s using his TC fame for – speaking out about BP, publicizing sustainable food culture and volunteering his services for a variety of charitable organizations this interests and impresses me.

I truly enjoy seeing famous people do good things with their fame. It reaffirms a tiny glimmer of hope for humanity in my jaded heart…

If you haven’t been paying attention to the news the last few days, the Boulder Colorado area (where StrEAT Chefs is located) has been ravaged by canyon fires stretching four miles in radius. 3,500 people were evacuated from the region, many have already lost their homes and belongings to the fire.

Rosenberg and partner Laura Rice have mobilized StrEAT Chefs to donate food to victims of the fire for lunch today from the commissary home base at 1606 Conastoga (in Boulder) and dinner tonight at the Colorado Chautauqua Institute. The StrEAT Chefs team has been actively posting on Facebook and Twitter to publicize what they’re doing… I suspect that they are also going to be partially responsible for raising the profile of what is happening to a national audience, hopefully bringing more help in the form of fire fighters and donations to the Boulder area.

Good on ya, Hosea — I knew I was right to think you were a cool dude. People reading this via my site or Food Buzz: Please pass this story on and re-blog at will, let’s get some foodie love headed to help the 3,500 displaced peoples in Colorado, m’kay? Over and out.

To donate help to the victims of this fire:

American Red Cross: Needs donations to help support those misplaced by the fire. www.denver-redcross.org or (303)772-7474
Longmont Humane Society: Food & donations for the animals who are being temporarily housed. www.longmonthumane.org or 303-772-1232.
Boulder County Fairgrounds/Parks and Open Space: Donations of hay, horse feed and help for the evacuated livestock (303)678-6200
Boulder Four Mile Canyon Fire: Volunteer at services@volunteerconnection.net or 303-444-4904

*I am eating at Stephanie Izzard’s The Girl and the Goat next week. Very excited to check it out, stay tuned for my review.

*Check Voltaggio’s profile piece in the LA Times today… thx to Sonia Hunt for passing this on. Michael Voltaggio is a cocky bastard, but damn if he doesn’t make sexy food!