A Menu for Hope: Food Bloggers Raising Money to Help Hungry People

I'm a relative newcomer to the world of food blogs and sometimes I feel like an imposter. It was only a few years ago that I made the decision to take food seriously. Before that, I was most certainly a culinary dilettante.

So sometimes I feel a little funny participating in the blog business (although, I've met some wonderful, kind and helpful people here).

But Menu for Hope is a project I can, excuse the expression, sink my teeth into. Now in its third year, Menu for Hope is a food-blogger coordinated raffle to raise money for the United Nations World Food Programme.

My contribution to the Menu of Hope auction will give you a taste of the four seasons in the Upper Midwest. It is a sample of six, 9-ounce jars of fruit butters from American Spoon Foods of Petoskey, Mich. I'm not from Petoskey, but Michigan is my home state. We Yoopers think of those people under the bridge as trolls, but they've got great fruit orchards. I'm a huge fan of American Spoon products.

The jars include pumpkin butter, a spicy spread for fall (or any time of year); strawberry butter, a taste of springtime; blueberry butter, a summery spread made from Michigan blueberries; apple butter, spiced with cinnamon; crabapple butter, great paired with cheddar cheese; and last but not least, cherry butter, made from Montmorency cherries.

It's like spreading Michigan's plummy, jammy wines on a toast or a muffin or a bagel. (Yes, Michigan does have wineries, lot of them.)

I'm tossing in a surprise, too. Trust me on this. It will be something you can enjoy with the fruit butters and it will be from Wisconsin (no, not a cheesehead hat!). I may even toss in another bonus. Who knows? You won't be disappointed.

You can read about the other prizes at Chez Pim. There are some dandy items — I've already got my eye on about a dozen.

Here's how you can participate:

1. Go to the Menu for Hope donation page.

2. Make a donation. Each $10 will give you one raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice. Please specify which prize or prizes you'd like in the Personal Message section in the donation form when confirming your donation. Specify how many tickets per prize, and please use the prize code — for example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for UW01 and 3 for UW02. The prize code for my box of fruit butters is UC04.

3. If your company matches your donation, please remember to check the box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.

4. Please also check the box to allow raffle coordinators to see your email address so that they can contact you if you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone else.

5. Check back at Chez Pim on Jan. 15 when raffle results will be announced. The drawing will be done electronically.

Several well-known food bloggers are coordinating details for this event. Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen recruited donors from the country's mid-section; you can read more on her site. Next time you visit her site, please thank her because she put a lot of work into this on a weekend on and her birthday.