Sarah McLachlan Joins Jon Stewart, Al Roker and Mario Batali at Food Bank For New York City's Star-Studded Can-Do Awards Dinner to Help End Hunger

NEW YORK, March 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Food Bank For New York City -- the city's major hunger-relief organization working to end food poverty throughout the five boroughs -- announced today that multi-platinum, Grammy-Award winning singer/songwriter Sarah McLachlan, will donate her time and talents and 'sing for her supper,' and for everyone's delight, at the Food Bank For New York City's Ninth Annual Can-Do Awards Dinner on Thursday, April 7th, at Abigail Kirsch's Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers on the Hudson River.  Co-chairing the dinner is Chef/Author Mario Batali and his wife Susan Cahn. TODAY Show Co-Host and America's best loved weatherman, Al Roker, will host. Jon Stewart is Can-Do's Special Guest.  Honored for 23 years of service to the organization, is the Food Bank's President and CEO, Lucy Cabrera, Ph.D., who will retire in May. The evening will include cocktails followed by dinner, awards, and a live auction.  Previous Can-Do honorees include Emeril Lagasse, Jon Bon Jovi, the Edge, Gwyneth Paltrow, Michael Stipe, Helena Christensen, Mario Batali and Stanley Tucci.

For Sarah, music and philanthropy are intertwined.  She contributed the track "Hold On" to the 1993 AIDS-Benefit Album No Alternative, and performed on the star-studded tsunami disaster relief telethon on NBC, as well as during the concert One World: The Concert for Tsunami Relief.  She participated in the Philadelphia installment of the Live 8 concerts, which was one of nine held simultaneously in nine major cities around the world. In addition, McLachlan was a co-founder of the historic Lilith Fair, an all women music festival which donated over $10 million dollars to local and national women's charities www.lilithfair.com. Sarah also funds an outreach program in Vancouver which provides free music education classes to inner-city youths whose school music programs have been reduced or abolished by budget cuts.  Said Sarah, "Music is a gift.  It connects us to each other and to ourselves.  Through it, we share our stories and our emotions, and we create a whole new way of communicating."

"Sarah's ability to speak from the heart also connects her to the Food Bank.  Much like Sarah's commitment to helping young people and the victims of tragedies around the globe find their voice, the Food Bank speaks for 1.5 million New Yorkers who rely on our programs and services and who often cannot speak for themselves," said Lucy Cabrera, Ph.D., President & CEO of the Food Bank For New York City. "We applaud Sara's efforts and we welcome her to the Food Bank family.  At a very difficult time when more than three million New York City residents are struggling to put food on the table, we are honored to have her support.  We know her music will lift all of our spirits at Can-Do and beyond."

The Can-Do Awards Dinner is instrumental in helping to provide support for the one in five New York City residents who rely on the Food Bank's programs and services. Every dollar donated to the Food Bank helps provide five meals. This is a crucially important year for the Can-Do Awards Gala as unemployment remains high and the cost of food is skyrocketing.  Food Bank research tells us that the recession has depleted the savings of the lowest-income New Yorkers, leaving them even more vulnerable to food poverty. Further, NYC residents are making impossible sacrifices such as reducing their food intake and the quality of their food to get by financially.  

Multi-platinum, Grammy-Award winning singer/songwriter Sarah McLachlan released her first studio album of new material in 7 years THE LAWS OF ILLUSION on June 15th on Arista Records to overwhelming critical acclaim. USA Today raves:  "Some of her most buoyant and beautifully crafted songs ever. Candid and thoughtful, LAWS OF ILLUSION, finds her tackling heartache head-on and leaves no doubt that she wants to find love again – and will." And The New York Times glows: "The songs are as direct as Ms. McLachlan's have ever been, and as finely tuned...The album is as lush and measured...It's a collection of ballads, hymns, and waltzes, sung in long arcs of melody with a voice that enfolds its strength in breathy intimacy. Acoustic instruments gleam, with unearthly keyboards and electric guitars billowing up around them."

Since joining Arista over two decades ago in 1988, Sarah McLachlan has sold over 40 million recordings worldwide with every one of her studio and live albums certified gold, platinum, or multi-platinum by the RIAA. www.sarahmclachlan.com

Individual tickets to Can-Do are $650 and tables start at $12,000. To reserve tickets, contact the Food Bank's Benefit Office: 212.249.6188 or [email protected].

About the Food Bank For New York City

Food Bank For New York City recognizes 28 years as the city's major hunger-relief organization working to end food poverty throughout the five boroughs.  As the city's hub for integrated food poverty assistance, the Food Bank tackles the hunger issue on three fronts -- food distribution, income support and nutrition education -- all strategically guided by its research. Through its network of approximately 1,000 community-based member programs citywide, the Food Bank helps provide 400,000 free meals a day for New Yorkers in need. The Food Bank's hands-on nutrition education program in the public schools reaches thousands of children, teens and adults. Income support services including food stamps, free tax assistance for the working poor and the Earned Income Tax Credit put millions of dollars back in the pockets of low-income New Yorkers, helping them to achieve greater dignity and independence. 94% of donations go directly toward food distribution, acquisition and programs in all five boroughs of New York City.  Learn how you can help at foodbanknyc.org.

Media contacts:  
Carol Schneider/212-566-7855, ext. 2231/ [email protected]
Mary Kaye Daniels/BWR Public Relations / 212.901.3938 / [email protected]

SOURCE Food Bank For New York City