Melanie Fillauer, second from right, is the grand prize winner in the Agape House chocolate contest. With her are the contest judges, from left, Jeanne Gorman, Kelly Callison, and Elaine Graham. (Submitted photo)
More than 130 chocolate lovers attended the recent “Evening of Everything Chocolate” in support of Agape House of Oak Ridge, a nonprofit organization providing transitional housing for the homeless.
The evening featured tables filled with chocolate desserts in the Social Hall of Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church and a chocolate dessert contest. This year’s grand prize winner for best chocolate dessert was Melanie Fillauer with her Jack Daniels fudge pie. It was the second win for Fillauer, who won the first chocolate contest sponsored by Agape House two years ago. She took home a gold medal and a gift certificate for dinner at Aubrey’s Restaurant.
Rebecca Bowman won second place in the contest with her cookies with a kick. Judges were Jeanne Gorman, last year’s gold medal winner; Kelly Callison, Oak Ridge City Council member and chief operating officer of Information International Associates; and Elaine Graham, owner of Estate Sales Professionals, or the “Purple Van People.”
“Agape House counts on this annual fundraiser to produce 35 percent of our budget, and we are glad to announce that we achieved this goal this year,” said Michael McCutcheon, Agape House director. “We thank our sponsors, our ticket sellers, our volunteers, and all our ticket buyers for helping us help our struggling homeless neighbors.”
McCutcheon said he was pleased to hear one guest comment, “You guys put the ‘fun’ in fundraiser!”
All proceeds will go to the direct support of Agape House, a nonprofit organization that opened its third house in February to provide transitional housing for the homeless. Since opening in 2014, Agape House has helped more than 36 homeless families or individuals with short-term, temporary housing, and other support services as they work with agencies to gain self-sufficiency.
For more information about Agape House, see www.oakridgeagape.org and Oak Ridge Agape/Facebook.
Rebecca Bowman, second from left, won second place in the Agape House chocolate contest. Contest judges, from left, are Jeanne Gorman, Kelly Callison, and Elaine Graham. (Submitted photo)
This press release and photos were submitted by Kay Brookshire.
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