has lined up a host of chefs and celebrities to take part in “The Great New York Foodathon,” a fundraising special to air April 17 on Fox-owned WNYW and WWOR in New York.
Demand for the organization’s food donations has skyrocketed in the wake of the pandemic lockdown, which has come at the cost of hundreds of thousands of jobs in the New York area alone. Zakarian serves on the board of City Harvest and is president of its Food Council, a who’s who of New York culinarians. The greatest need at the moment is not so much food as it is money to help fund operations and the transportation of some 66 million pounds of food that City Harvest distributes each year. JP Morgan is on board as a financial supporter. Financial firm XTX Markets has committed to matching “Foodathon” donations up to $2.5 million.
“We have faith in the success of this special, because during critical times New Yorkers are prepared to step up and help those in need,” said Dan Carlin, VP of programming, research, creative services and public affairs for WNYW and WWOR.