'Iron Chef' Lesbian Cat Cora Goes Big for Haiti Relief

Lesbian 'Iron Chef' Cat Cora is opening her heart to the earthquake victims in Haiti and giving her culinary colleagues a challenge of their own.

Cora hopes to raise $1 million to go toward disaster relief efforts in Haiti and is calling on her foodie friends to do the same.

Together with her charitable organization Chefs for Humanity and the United Nations World Food Program, Cora donated $10,000 from her own savings and asked others to match it. "My goal is to get 99 people to match my donation," Cora's Food Network allies like Rachel Ray, Paula Deen, and Guy Fieri have also donated.

When the earthquake in Haiti hit hard earlier this month, Cora united her culinary community. In an interview with Popeater she said, "I know it's hard to give back, donate and support a family in this economy, but for me, it is important to set an example about giving all that you can. Is it hard? Yes. But do we have more than most? Of course. That is why I really wanted to set the bar there," Cora adds.

George Clooney invited Cora to the Hope for Haiti Now event last Friday. "It was humbling and inspiring. Almost every single celebrity you could think of was in that room answering phones. Jennifer Aniston. Ellen DeGeneres. Then, I was next to Jack Nicholson at one point answering phones... To see George bring all these people together was very, very humbling and inspiring," Cora recalls in her interview.

As a mother of four boys, Nash, 6 months; Thatcher, 10 months; Caje, 2 1/2; and Zoran, 6, Cora felt compelled to help the children in Haiti who have been left without family. "It breaks my heart every time I see one of those babies over there. You can't not cry when you see that because some of these children have no parents and don't have any food right now. It breaks my heart... I would have jumped on a plane the first day, but Chefs For Humanity is trying to be smart and strategic about it. We want to be over there feeding people as soon as possible, by the end of February or first of March." Cora adds.

While Cora isn't ruling out having more kids, she reveals, "The only way Jennifer and I would have another child is if we adopt. Before we had our children, we tried to adopt, but it is very difficult for same-sex couples. We have agreed that if we ever wanted more children, we would only do it by giving back and adopting."

Click here to help Cora by donating now.

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