Hey, that’s my old buddy Cindy McConkey with whom I worked at The Knoxville Journal many years ago when we were both aggressive young reporters and editors! (The Journal was a daily paper owned by Gannett for most of the time we were there.)
Only, lucky her, she’s pictured here with Academy Award winner Jeff Bridges, center, and Chuck Scofield from the Share Our Strength charity. They are at a fundraiser at posh Charlie Palmer’s restaurant in Washington, D.C., earlier this week. The evening raised $250,000 for the “No Kid Hungry” initiative of Share Our Strength.
Share Our Strength and Scripps Networks Interactive, where Cindy now is senior vice president of communications, are long-time partners in the effort to educate children and families about nutrition and healthy eating. Scripps provides support for the project by creating public service announcements featuring Jeff Bridges as the spokesman for Share Our Strength. The company also has funded and physically installed more than 30 “Good Food Gardens” across the country, including one in Knoxville that was started just last month.
Here is a great video about the project, which Comcast also supports as part of its Comcast Cares initiative. Click here and you’ll recognize some Food Network celebrities as well as some folks with Knoxville ties, including John Lansing and Ken Lowe.
The Good Food Garden in Knoxville is at the Boys and Girls Club on Caswell Avenue. It is approximately 250 square feet large and is filled with 140 bags of soil and 240 plants. The Good Food Garden should yield enough fresh fruits and vegetables to feed 500 people three times a year!
The idea is that, in America, more than 21 million kids rely on free or reduced-price school lunches every day, but less than 3 million of those children receive a free meal during the summer. That’s where Share our Strength’s “No Kid Hungry” program comes in, working with local partners across the country to connect kids with meals during the summer. The Good Food Gardens, just part of the initiative, help teach children the origins of food and encourage them to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables.
As for Cindy, she says she is happy to focus on her job at Scripps Networks Interactive after what she calls her “May of Madness.” Her older daughter, Kendall, was married in a lavish outdoor wedding last month in the vineyard at Castleton Farms in Loudon. The wedding was at 11 a.m. followed by a brunch reception at the Carriage House at Castleton that included sweet potato biscuits (it was the same day as Biscuitfest in Knoxville!), gravy and Grandma’s homemade marmalade, which the bride helped make this year. Of course, there were mimosas for toasting.
From the looks of these pictures, everything came off without a hitch. The couple, Kendall Cox and Jeremy Park — now Mr. and Mrs. Park — will move to New York City in September to start their new adventure together. Congrats, Cindy! Now get back to that glamorous job of yours!
Cindy McConkey with her daughter, Kendall Cox
What a beautiful setting!
The bride and her handsome father, Gary Cox
The "I do's," etc.
Awwww.
Wow!
Tears during the toasts.
Bye-bye!
Photo credits: The photos with “kb” on them are by Katherine Birkbeck Photography. The top photo was provided by Scripps Networks Interactive.
