Local Culinary Arts College Helps Local Youth-Based Charity
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On October 29, 2009, The International Culinary School at The Art Institutes International Minnesota recently hosted the first annual “Chef’s Dinner,” a fundraising dinner benefiting a local charity. This year, Culinary Arts students and their Chef Instructors came together to plan a five-course dinner with wine pairings benefiting the Cookie Cart (http://www.cookiecart.org).
Over 60 people attended the $100 per plate event which included a champagne greeting with passed hors ‘d oeuvres, silent auction, live music and a five-course meal paired with wine. Sue Zellickson, WCCO radio personality and Minnesota Monthly contributor, and Chef Instructor Pat Weber hosted the event. Chef Instructors Fred Weis, Seth Bixby Daugherty, Steve Lerach, Byron Korus, Amy Carter, Jon Belleau, and Jessica Becker all volunteered for the event along with over a dozen Culinary Arts students. The event received rave reviews from all who attended. Nearly $6,000 was raised for the charity, which operates a youth bakery in North Minneapolis.
The Cookie Cart was founded over 20 years ago from an initiative of a local nun, Sister Jean Thuerauf, to keep at-risk kids off the North Minneapolis streets. Inviting them into her home to bake cookies, Sister Jean got the idea to sell the cookies by pushcart, and the Cookie Cart was born. Now a full-scale job-training program, the Cookie Cart employs local teenagers and teaches them basic job skills while paying them a living wage. Its mission is as follows: Through the operation of a retail/commercial bakery, Cookie Cart offers North Minneapolis youth the opportunity to develop life, leadership and employment skills. To find out more, go to www.cookiecart.org.