Our Letter To Food Network Regarding Ina Garten, Send Your Own Letter On Link In Post
There are times when we all need to take a stand for what is decent.
Ina Garten needs to be reminded why she is famous.
It is because of folks like you and me who watch her show on the Food Network, or buy her books.
So when Ina Garten refused to allow time for a Make-A-Wish kid who is very sick….well, you can read here how I feel.
This is when it becomes time for all of America to step and remind Ina Garten from where her fame came.
And how quickly it can crumble.
This afternoon we sent the following note below from our home to the Food Network.
I urge my readers to take a moment and send one of their own.
Food Network can be found on this link for mailing them your throughts on Ina Garten.
This is our letter.
I am writing to express my dismay. I am sincerely hoping that the “Barefoot Contessa” didn’t actually snub a kid from the Make-a-Wish Foundation recently. I am hoping that this is all some sort of mixup and that the HUNDREDS of websites reporting this are all wrong.
According to what I have read, however, Ms. Garten is just too busy to schedule some time with the boy. Really? Most days it often feels like I don’t have a minute to myself. And yet, I still have time each year to volunteer in my community, to help others who are less fortunate than I am. I know what busy looks like.
Ms. Garten is undoubtedly quite sought after, but she has a professional scheduler who couldn’t carve out time for her to throw an omlette together with the boy? She likely could have made some tricked-out version of peanut butter on saltine crackers with him and he would have cherished the time spent forever.
I don’t know what it is like to have adoring fans, and certainly not one working with the Make-a-Wish people. The Make-a-Wish foundation is hardly a fly-by-night organization of people who harrass celebrities. These people grant dying wishes. They also fund them, so it isn’t as though this “generosity” that they ask of people has to come out of their own pockets, if that is a concern for a celebrity author.
Indeed, I am very disappointed to learn that someone whose public persona is based on down-home values and caring doesn’t have a thirty minute time slot to grant a kid a wish. I hope that it isn’t true in the end, and would love to hear back from you if indeed I am mistaken.
Very sincerely,
Other cooking celebs step up to undo the hurt and harm caused by Ina Garten.
http://www.tmz.com/2011/03/26/ina-garten-barefoot-contessa-michael-symon-beau-macmillan-enzo-cancer-make-wish-sick-kid-leukemia-oregon-cook-food-network/
Thanks to those who care and make a difference for these kids.
Thank you for sharing that link Susan.
It’s nice to know not everyone has jumped on the emotional blackmail media bandwagon. Including Enzo’s mom.
So Im guessing that all of you who is upset about this has donated money to the Make-A-Wish Foundation (yeah I doubt that)……and we should guilt all people into doing charity work. Not to mention all the other charity work Ina does…..but I guess that dosent matter….I have charities I donate to and volunteer for…I never chatise anyone who dosnet give to them…its up to each person to decide what charties they want to give their money and time to.
http://www.angelsforenzo.com/pleasestopthemadness.htm – this was a beautiful post by his mom…
My daughter was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She fell in love with a pizza throwing competition show. I emailed the producers to buy a DVD…the pizza throwing champ himself (who is very busy with his own restaurant and other things) emailed me within an hour and called. He mailed our daughter a free DVD of the show and lots of other stuff, including his practice rubber pizza dough that he uses to prepare for competitions (and this wasn’t even for her make-a-wish). It was just me, a mom of a child with cancer, emailing to buy a DVD. This is so not cool. If this had been my daughter’s wish, I am 100% confident that this sweet man would have granted her wish in a heartbeat.
My daughter was 4 at the time. She loves to cook. She cooks mushrooms, and enjoys eating octopus and alligator. Children with cancer are wise beyond their years and have such a uniqueness to them….to assume this was the parents wish is really jumping to conclusions.
My daughter chose to go to Disney for her wish – she was only 3 at the time. We weren’t sure if she would make it much longer…She turned 7 years old today!
I am so disgusted at Ina’s behavior that I have a hard time finding words. I have 4 children and if any of them ever faced what the child who requested time with Ina did, I would pray that their request be granted. In light of her behavior, I’m boycotting her show, Food Network as well as all of her sponsors until she’s off the air.
In response to the person who thinks this was the mother’s wish, do you really think that the Make-A-Wish foundation doesn’t throughly investigate each case to make sure it isn’t the wish of a parent? Give them some credit please. I’m sure you could check this out on your own through the Make-A-Wish website before you go spreading lies.
Cj,
In this day of internet and cable info I do not find it hard to think a kid would like to see Ina or a raft of other people.
While it it true that ‘stars’ get lots of requests, I am suspecting Make-A-Wish requests for Ina are few in number. The way Martha Stewart handled such a a request might have been the guide for Ina. Make-A-Wish woudl have flown the child to her, and all she needed to do was be human from that point on.
I come from the old-fashioned school of never be mean to kids, elderly people, or animals.
I just have no way to defend Ina.
And from the mood of the internet not many do.
All the same I thank you for commenting.
We know Ina does do charity work for several organizations and she had a big heart to help out, so this story sounds a bit one sided. We would like to know her side of the story. We hope that she will make a statement about her side of this, She could still make time for the little boy in any case, whether he has an alternative wish or not. It would be a beautiful thing to do.
I respect her decision to decline the Make A Wish request.
1. Because it sounds more like the request of a parent, not a three year old child. An attention grabbing parent at that.
2. Celebritiies are inundated with requests for appearances, donations, etc. and in fairness to them, they cannot fulfill them all.
3. You cannot know and should not judge the real reason why she would decline. Maybe it would just be too emotionally difficut for her. We know little of her personal life. What if the reason she declined was because she was unable to have children and the thought of that was emotionally crushing. We don’t know and we should not judge.
Here are more thoughts on the subject: http://www.seriouseats.com/talk/2011/03/ina-garten—total-looser-imho.html
I’d be interested on hearing your thoughts after considering some other opinions.
I am so appalled I can’t believe it. I have always enjoyed watching her show on Food Network. She has just lost a devoted fan and I will ‘share’ this with other members
of my f/b clan. Remember, Ina, those people you meet on the way “up” are the same people you meet on the way “down”, and the splinters are NEVER facing in the right direction..