In promoting the planned Franklin Community Health Complex, the Community Health Centers of Arkansas welcomes to an upcoming fundraiser two celebrity chefs—Chef Jeff Henderson, a former Food Network chef, and prominent local chef Donnie Ferneau. LaShannon Spencer, chief executive officer at Community Health Centers of Arkansas (CHCA), said Henderson, a former drug dealer who transformed his life and became a nationally renowned chef, will serve as master of ceremonies for the CHCA’s “Hunger Banquet,” which will raise money and awareness for Franklin.
Ferneau is crafting the menu. “Henderson has an incredible personal story to tell of overcoming adversity to achieve a better life outcome,” Spencer said. “This is exactly what we hope to do with Franklin by providing quality healthcare and educational programs for at-risk neighborhoods in central Little Rock.”
Plans for the Franklin complex – located in the former Franklin Elementary School at 1701 S. Harrison St. in the Oak Forest neighborhood – include a community health center, a community cafeteria, meeting spaces, and recreational options. The Hunger Banquet will be held April 26 at 5:30p.m. and 7p.m. at Cathead’s Diner in Little Rock.
“Poor diet and food intake can be detrimental to a lot of minority communities and poor white communities and can cause high blood pressure and obesity,” Henderson said. “It’s really all about educating people. I’m really talking a lot about eating farm-to-table produce and knowing where your food comes from.”
Other Little Rock appearances by Henderson include April 26 at 2:20 p.m. with students at Henderson Middle School and April 27 at 12 p.m. for a soup lunch with middle school children at Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library & Learning Center.