Helping kids get a complete education

Helping kids get a complete education
 Author: JoAnne Barge
 Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press in the News section on October 12, 2012.
 www.smdp.com

LINCOLN BLVD — Excited to have one of our own hosting the VIP reception at this Sunday’s Taste of Abbot Kinney culinary event and fundraiser, I was delighted to interview Adam Gertler.
Gertler is a Food Network star, hosting the primetime series “Kid in a Candy Store.” He’s a talented chef and equally gifted television personality.
His preference is barbecue and smoking meats. At his bar and restaurant on Lincoln Boulevard —TRiP — he does specialty sausages. The spot just south of Pico Boulevard also features great beers and live music.
I asked Gertler about his involvement with Taste of Abbot Kinney and he said that he is hosting it for the second year because of its support for Inside Out Community Arts. Inside Out teaches the arts to underserved youth in the Venice area and beyond, providing award-winning, high quality after-school programs that teach youth to believe in the power of their own inner voices, hopes and dreams.
Gertler used to teach acting to kids himself when he had more time and plans to return to it. He himself was acting by the fourth grade and has always been a lover of the performing arts. He holds a bachelor’s in fine arts from Syracuse University. Although he came to Los Angeles to be an actor, he found himself sidetracked with his cooking and after being discovered on the Food Network, he found the perfect way to integrate the two.
He was never scholastic and tended to daydream; acting helped him to find himself so he feels strongly about helping kids who don’t have the same opportunities that he had.
As most of you know, the arts have been stripped away at many school, which makes organizations like Inside Out so important and necessary.
I couldn’t help but ask Gertler about his 20-year plus collection of comic books. He said that they “keep my imagination alive” and that for him, he got what others get from religion. He always identified with the good guys, the heroes, never the bad guys.
I plan to help Gertler in this event and the others who support Inside Out and anything that helps kids get exposure to the arts. I hope that you will too. Research has repeatedly proven that it enhances learning and helps to develop character.
So head on down to Abbot Kinney this Sunday and sample of the finest foods local restaurants have to offer, and help educate kids in the process.
For more information, visit http://www.insideoutca.org/ or http://www.tasteofabbotkinney.org.
If you go
TRiP
2101 Lincoln Blvd.
Santa Monica, Calif.
90405
(310) 396-9010
http://www.tripsantamonica.com