Memorial to partner with F BITES for pizza cook-off

Event promotes mission to engage & empower youth

Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center will face off in a pizza challenge against “Hell’s Kitchen” contestant/chef Bobby Anderson and six of his students from LaSalle Preparatory School’s F BITES (Food Based Interventions with Technology Energy & Science) program. The event will take place at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 6, in the medical center’s Tenth Street Café.

Memorial President and CEO Joseph Ruffolo, along with chef LaMont Singletary and his staff from the Tenth Street Café, will challenge Anderson and his students to a pizza cook-off. Both sides will prepare the same three pizzas. A panel of judges will vote for who cooked it best.

Judges for the event include Niagara Falls School District Administrator for Human Resources Maria Massaro and LaSalle Preparatory School Principal James Spanbauer.

F BITES is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to use culinary instruction as a vehicle to support and empower students in under-served populations by developing leadership, professional and vocational skills.

“I have seen so many students grow behaviorally because of their participation in F BITES. There are several students that probably wouldn’t have made it through the school year, however, they have because of F BITES,” said Ashley Chambers, a teacher at LaSalle Prep.

Along with the pizza cook-off, the first 50 people to arrive will be entered into a door prize drawing. This event is free and open to the public.

For more information about the event, or to make a donation to F BITES, call 716-861-4138.