‘Good Morning America’ makes donation in Bowie teen’s name
Show, partner give $50,000 to aid Maryland Food Bank
When Bowie teen Michael Platt was a guest on “Good Morning America,” he expected to talk about his #12tuesdaysofgiving, but didn’t expect to leave with a $50,000 donation to the Maryland Food Bank and to garner former first lady Michelle Obama’s attention.
The show’s Michael Strahan and Robin Roberts partnered with food company McCormick to surprise Platt on Dec. 1 with a $50,000 donation in his name to the Food Bank.
Platt, 15, had created #12tuesdaysofgiving , which seeks to educate people about hunger in America through engaging his social media followers with random acts of kindness. The segment and Platt’s work were spotlighted by Michelle Obama on Twitter as well.
“I really wasn’t expecting the donation, I was just going to talk about giving and leave. I was really excited and it was cool,” Platt said. “It was really cool when I seen the tweet, my mom was freaking out about.”
Along with the donation, McCormick surprised Platt with a supply of McCormick products for his business, Michael’s Desserts, and a visit to the McCormick test kitchen. He received a private cooking and recipe development class with chef Kevan Vetter, McCormick’s director of culinary development. The recipe is currently featured on McCormick’s website.
“That was really fun and I got to make some cupcakes. I spent my whole day there,” Platt said. “I learned how make granola bars and I will be doing that for my snack packs.”
During the pandemic, and with schools operating digitally, Platt has been making and donating “snack packs” — healthy, shelf-stable snacks for kids who no longer can rely on meals coming from school.
“I just wanted to have something that will hold kids over from meal to meal and make sure they don’t have to worry about meal insecurity,” Platt said.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Maryland Food Bank’s Maryland Hunger Map estimated that roughly 1.5 million Marylanders experienced food insecurity. Feeding America is estimating that close to 1 million (980,000) additional Marylanders may find themselves food insecure as a result of COVID’s long-term economic impact, said Joanna Warner, director of communications of Maryland Food Bank.
“We at the Maryland Food Bank admire Michael’s ingenuity and desire to give back by providing healthy snack packs to children in his local community,” said Maryland Food Bank CEO & President Carmen Del Guercio. “The effectiveness of his efforts was what captured McCormick’s attention, which in turn resulted in a generous gift of $50,000 that will allow us to continue purchasing nutritious food for hungry Marylanders, many of whom are facing unexpected hardships as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re grateful to community leaders like Michael who are willing to step up to help their neighbors in need during these especially challenging times.”
At the McCormick test kitchen, Platt created freedom fighter cupcakes. They are based off people that Platt has looked up to or have helped him in his life. He did Nelson Mandela, a malva flavored cupcake.
“Going to the kitchen has been my favorite part of this experience and they invited me back to do some croissant classes, so I am definitely going to take up that offer,” Platt said.
With holidays coming up, Platt is looking forward to his favorite dessert: sweet potato pie. For his business he will be making chocolate peppermint cupcakes, brown butter espresso chocolate chip cookies and cake orders.