Photo courtesy Papa Murphy's

Papa Murphy's pizza

Anybody who's ever eaten pizza understands the last slice quandary, in which you're left wondering whether you should really, really eat one more slice. Lucky you, 17-year-old Alexandra Ventura is giving you the perfect reason to have another slice, even another whole pizza, with a pizza fundraiser that will not only help get her to college, but continue the teenager's mission to help her parents, a then-teenage-mom and a father in prison, raise Ventura's five younger siblings.

Recently, Ventura was hired to work at Bob and Judy Fox's new Whittier location of Papa Murphy's -- a take 'n' bake pizza company, where pizzas are purchased unbaked and taken home to create a home-baked pie.

Ventura met the Fox family a little over five years ago when Judy and Ventura's mother worked together in the same ophthalmologist's office. Impressed by how mature Ventura was for a then-12-year-old, Judy developed a friendship with her and, over the next five years, became a strong roll model.

When Bob and Judy began planning the grand opening event for their Papa Murphy's, they realized that they had a unique opportunity to help Ventura. During its June 13 through 19 grand opening celebration, the new pizza place will be donating two dollars from every pizza sale to Ventura's college fund.

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Anne Fishbein

Chefs Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook at Animal

Two great L.A. restaurants have dinners coming up that benefit charity.

Next week on Jan. 14, Animal will host a dinner with Christopher Kostow, the 3 star Michelin chef of The Restaurant at Meadowood in St. Helena, California.

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Flickr/basykes

A Bertolli pasta dish

It used to be easy to shower celebrities with lavish gifts. Back in the good old days, companies put together gift baskets worth tens of thousands of dollars that they gave to presenters and other celebrities attending awards shows such as the Oscars and Emmys.

Then those spoilsport Feds decided that the gift baskets could be construed as taxable income, forcing celebrity gifting underground. So-called "gifting suites" popped up at high-end Beverly Hills hotels and other secret locations, where celebs (or their handlers) could pick up fancy items, and it was difficult for the IRS to track who had gone where and accepted what.

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flickr user/lesbal123

Fundraiser Frites + Wine

Wally's Central Coast Wine & Food Celebration, a nonprofit wine and food tasting event that began eight years ago to support the Michael Bonaccorsi Scholarship Fund, has unexpectedly been cancelled this year.

"We just don't have a place to do the event," says the event's volunteer publicist, Jannis Swerman. "Wally's has always hosted [the event] but told us they can't this year."

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Barbara Grover/Jewish World Watch

Mother and daughter drinking solar tea

It's not often that a horrific problem can be fought with a simple tool. But that is what's happening in the refugee camps of Chad, where solar cookers are helping to protect women and girls from rape and other violence. Now in its sixth year, the Solar Cooker Project of L.A.-based Jewish World Watch (JWW) offers hope to black African families who have fled the genocide from government forces and Arab militias in the Darfur region of Sudan.

"Early on we realized that the women who had survived had been subjected to cruel and inhumane attacks," says Rachel Andres, director of the Solar Cooker Project. "When we started to look into what we could do to help them, we realized that, in fact, even though they were in a refugee camp, they weren't safe."

Andres explains that in the refugee camps, women and young girls must perform the dangerous job of collecting firewood for cooking. This requires them to leave the camps and walk for hours, making them vulnerable to attack.

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Sam Hood/State Library of New South Wales

Schoolchildren line up for free soup and bread in Sydney, Australia. (1934)

There are already a few good reasons to pledge to KCRW ("Good Food" -- hint, hint). Here's one more: KCRW is asking those who donate to the station during its Winter Pledge Drive to consider donating an additional 40 meals to the L.A. Regional Food Bank instead of requesting a thank-you gift like mugs, CDs or T-shirts. The pledge drive runs through next Friday, Feb. 3. You can also donate $100 or more by calling 800-600-5279 or clicking here.

Bellmore Library

Did you stock up on too much food for the holidays? Any Thanksgiving non-perishable leftovers? Make the most out of it and donate to these local food drives. According to the L.A. Regional Food Bank, the most coveted food products are rice, beans, canned meat, canned vegetables, canned fruits and peanut butter. Turn the page for a compilation of local food drives -- and if you know of more, please let us know in the comments section.

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jgarbee

Larkin's Donation Envelope

Just as we were feeling overwhelmed by the number of volunteer opportunities and donation solicitations this time of year, Veronica Murphy, a server at Larkin's restaurant in Eagle Rock, reminded us that sometimes giving is as simple as looking next door.

"A woman who lives in my neighborhood has a baby on the way with four other children that are hers or she's [fostering]," says the 51-year-old waitress, who organizes the restaurant's annual adopt-a-family program every year with the support of co-owners Larkin Mackey, the restaurant's chef, and Joshua McBride. "The father of the baby was shot a few months ago, so she's working double shifts to try and feed everyone. We choose a different family every year, usually someone who we just really feel needs our help. I thought she really needed our help."

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jgarbee

Laura Ann Masura Of Laura Ann's Jams Making Blood Orange Marmalade

In keeping with years past, we fully expect that about the time we polish off our last turkey sandwich, the online barrage of 2011 best/worst lists involving topics we've already heard entirely too much about this year will begin (holiday cocktail recipes, anyone?). Nothing against Casey Anthony or Charlie Sheen, but we'd much rather discuss the finer culinary highlights of the year. And so in the interest of getting a jump on Nancy Grace, we're going ahead and dubbing 2011 the Year of Jam -- or the Year of Mustard, Pickles and/or Kimchi, should you prefer.

Not only have we seen a surge of small-batch jam and preserves companies in L.A. (Squirl and Laura Ann's Jams among them) alongside that steady stream of canning and preserving books hitting bookstore shelves, but the second class of the L.A. County Master Food Preservers program is graduating today -- congratulations!

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J. Ritz

Just when fatigue and perhaps even some cynicism about the year's parade of splashy food events starts to set in, along comes along a fundraiser with enough heart, spirit and dynamite food made by superstar chefs to vanquish any disenchantment. Even the sun came out at the last minute for the second L.A. Loves Alex's Lemonade benefit at the Culver Studios yesterday. Hosts Suzanne Goin, David Lentz and Caroline Styne with their crew of entertainment boldfaced names and coterie of vintner and kitchen pro friends -- many of whom flew in from around the country -- had their priorities straight.

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