Lilburn Family in Contest to Benefit Knight Elementary

The Deckard family, residents of Lilburn, have entered the Ben’s Beginners™ Cooking Contest, a playful nationwide competition by the UNCLE BEN’S® Brand designed to encourage parents to connect with their kids over healthy meals, one meal at a time.

Parents with children ages 5 to 12 were asked to submit a home video that showed the family together in the kitchen, introducing a rice-based dish they prepared and discussing their experience cooking together. The contest received hundreds of entries from families throughout the U.S.

In an effort to help them win a $50,000 cafeteria makeover for Knight Elementary School, the Deckards are asking the community to vote for the video they submitted titled "Rice Balls a la 6-year-old."

If selected as a grand prize winner the family will receive $20,000 cash and a $50,000 cafeteria makeover for Knight Elementary School, a Gwinnett Public School. Two members of the family will also appear on “The Rachael Ray Show.”

The family hopes this contest and their participation will also be a powerful statement against the major public health issue of childhood obesity and juvenile-onset Type II diabetes.

Until March 13, you can visit www.bensbeginnerscontest.com and enter the contestant name - Nicky - and click "Search Videos." Once the individual has found the recipe for which they want to vote, they can click the "Vote" button. Individuals are encouraged to vote once per day.

Or even easier: just go to www.VoteForNicky.com and click "Vote."

For every vote received, the UNCLE BEN’S® Brand will donate $1 (up to $35,000) to Rachel Ray’s Yum-O®, empowers kids and their families to develop healthy relationships with food and cooking.

For more information on the Ben’s Beginners™ Cooking Contest, visit www.bensbeginnerscontest.com.