[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 190 (Monday, December 12, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2225]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             HONORING THE LIFE AND WORK OF NOEL CUNNINGHAM

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DIANA DeGETTE

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, December 12, 2011

  Ms. DeGETTE. Mr. Speaker, it is with a heavy heart that I rise to 
honor the life of Noel Cunningham, a restaurateur and philanthropist I 
had the pleasure of knowing for almost 20 years.
  A resident of Denver, Noel was a true citizen of the world. Born in 
Ireland in 1949, he went to work at London's famed Savoy Hotel, 
achieving the rank of sous chef by age 23, before moving to California 
in the 1970's. In 1986 he moved to Denver and opened Strings, a bistro 
in Denver's Capitol Hill neighborhood that quickly became a community 
institution, hosting local celebrities, politicians, community and 
charity events and romantic date-nights.
  While his professional biography will be defined by his extraordinary 
culinary talents, Noel's legacy will forever be based on the impact his 
philanthropic efforts had in Denver and across the world.
  While in California he met Pat Miller, the noted restaurant critic 
known as the ``Gabby Gourmet,'' and the two developed a lifelong 
friendship. Together, they started ``Taste of the Nation,'' a nation-
wide fundraiser that by 2010 had raised almost $80 million to fight 
hunger and poverty across the United States.
  With his wife Tammy, Noel founded The Cunningham Foundation, which 
included Quarters for Kids, to help educate children about local hunger 
and homelessness, and 4 Quarters for Kids, a project he named in 
reference to the four quarters it takes per day to provide an Ethiopian 
child with breakfast, lunch, a school uniform, and a teacher and books. 
Firm in his belief that philanthropy could strengthen a local community 
while enriching the lives of those across the globe, Noel targeted 4 
Quarters primarily to local children, who held carwashes, concerts, 
pledge drives, and silent auctions to help create a better future for 
their Ethiopian peers.
  Noel was active with the local Volunteers of America, and served on 
the board of the national nonprofit Share Our Strength. On weekday 
afternoons, it was not uncommon to drive by Strings and see Noel 
serving meals to the homeless in between the persistent lunch and 
dinner rushes. He was committed to building a better community, both 
locally and globally, and was not afraid to enlist the help of others 
to achieve his goals; he worked with local hospitals to provide life-
saving treatments for Ethiopian children, and local businesses to ship 
supplies and other necessities to Africa. He founded ``A Dinner of 
Unconditional Love''--a charity dinner to raise funds for Dr. Rick 
Hodes, an American Doctor living in Ethiopia whose mission is to help 
heal the poor--and had planned to expand the program across the country 
so that he could raise the $10 million Hodes needs to build his own 
hospital in Ethiopia.
  Mr. Speaker, from the streets of Denver to the farms of Ethiopia, 
Noel Cunningham spent each and every day making a difference in the 
lives of those around him. Never content to settle, he pursued 
perfection in his restaurant and in his charitable endeavors, never 
once falling short in all the years I have known him. His life stands 
as proof that any individual can have an extraordinary impact, and his 
tragic passing leaves a monumental crater in the global community that 
spans from Denver to Ethiopia and beyond.

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