'Share the Love' with OSO Sweet onions and Ronald McDonald House Charities
'Share the Love' with OSO Sweet onions and Ronald McDonald House Charities
OSO Sweet onions and Ronald McDonald House Charities are asking retailers and consumers to "Share the Love," a unique venture designed to raise awareness and funds for Ronald McDonald House, which provides housing and support for families while their children are receiving medical treatment for life-threatening diseases worldwide.
From January through early February, consumers in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles will be able to submit recipes on entry forms available at in-store displays and on-line at www.sweetonionsource.com for their favorite dishes made with OSO Sweet onions.
Eight contestants will be selected from each city by award- winning cookbook author Aliza Green to take part in OSO Sweet onion cook-offs from from Feb. 9 to Feb. 15, said Rodger Helwig, marketing director for the Chilean-grown onion.
"The individual cookoffs will be held at Ronald McDonald houses in those cities or they might even be at local television studios," said Mr. Helwig, who noted that information about the promotion will be spotlighted in advertisements and in print and television stories.
Mr. Helwig said that at the end of the promotion, OSO Sweet onions would make a donation to Ronald McDonald House, and, in addition, it is developing products made with OSO Sweet onions to be sold in the four cities where the promotion will take place. The proceeds from the sale of these products will also benefit the over 250 Ronald McDonald houses in 27 countries.
"We will have a cheesecake for New York, but we are still working on the other three products," Mr. Helwig told The Produce News Dec. 6.
This is the second year that the two have teamed up to benefit Ronald McDonald House, Mr. Helwig said. Last year's promotion, a competition using OSO Sweet onions to make desserts, helped raise approximately $10,000 for the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House, which was the first Ronald McDonald House in the country, he said.
Mr. Helwig was excited about the beginning of OSO Sweet onions' season, which runs from January through March. "This year's crop looks great, and we're gearing up," he said. "The sugar level is really up there -- this is going to be one of the sweetest crops ever."