Karl Wilder to cook 11 hours in Dublin Halloween fundraiser for Secret Street Tours

Chef Karl Wilder will spend Halloween cooking nonstop for 11 hours in Dublin to raise money and awareness for Secret Street Tours, whose guides include people with lived experience of homelessness. The live cookathon will mix celebrity guests, mystery ingredients and a public audience at Ringsend & Irishtown Community Centre.

Why it matters: - The fundraiser ties a public food event to homelessness awareness in Dublin, where homelessness remains a visible social issue. - Secret Street Tours uses guides with lived experience of homelessness, turning the event into both a fundraiser and a platform for direct human contact. - Wilder wants the cookathon to test whether food, conversation and shared experience can change how people think about homelessness.

What happened: - Chef Karl Wilder will host the 11-Hour Halloween Cookathon on Saturday, Oct. 31, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Dublin. - The event is set for Ringsend & Irishtown Community Centre, Thorncastle Street, Dublin 4, D04 P4F3. - A live audience can attend during the day, donate and watch the cooking in real time. - The event will also be broadcast online. - Wilder is best known in the U.S. as the Food Stamp Chef, a title tied to his work showing how to cook on an extremely limited budget. - Wilder now lives and works in Europe and founded The Chef Tours.

The details: - Wilder is on the board of Secret Street Tours and says his idea for the event came after taking one of the organization’s tours himself. - Wilder said he expected to learn about homelessness, but was struck by how much he liked the guide and how natural the conversation felt. - The cookathon is designed to be unpredictable rather than a standard charity dinner. - Invited celebrities, media personalities and other guests will arrive with mystery ingredients. - Wilder will have to work each ingredient into whatever he is cooking at the time. - Wilder said the surprise ingredient could be excellent or terrible, and that uncertainty is part of the appeal. - The Halloween framing nods to Ireland’s Halloween and Samhain traditions without turning the event into a conventional Halloween attraction. - Organizers are suggesting a Halloween-themed container for the mystery ingredients, with a cauldron available if the later hours need more theater. - Secret Street Tours relies on guides with lived experience so they can tell their own stories, build employment skills and interact directly with visitors. - The event is intended to raise both money and awareness for Secret Street Tours Dublin. - Media contacts listed for the event are Karl.Wilder@secretStreetTours.org, Karl.Wilder@thecheftours.com and +33 1 77 72 23 22. - The event listing also points to Secret Street Tours on LinkedIn.

Between the lines: - Wilder is not selling the fundraiser as a polished gala. He is building in risk, surprise and audience participation to keep attention on the cause. - The format is meant to create direct interaction, which Wilder believes can make homelessness feel less abstract. - The emphasis on live interviews suggests the event is also being positioned as a media-friendly spectacle, not just a private benefit.

What's next: - Wilder is available for interviews before, during and after the Oct. 31 event. - Possible interview themes include the Food Stamp Chef backstory, the mystery ingredient challenge, food tourism and the role of human connection in changing views on homelessness. - Organizers expect coverage from radio, television and live interview formats because the cooking will be happening throughout the day.