Above Cory Christianson cooks while to his right Mike and Maureen O’Phelan get a tasty treat from staff at Gunflint Mercantile.
As far as fundraisers go, Enriching Academics Through Sustenance (EATS) is just about everybody’s favorite. This year was no different as food vendors and restaurants (10 in all) joined forces to put on a delectable spread for the 150 hungry patrons who attended the March 9 event held at Cook County High School.
Once again Lorelei Livingston and Ann Sullivan co-chaired the annual event. The ladies do such a fine job that no one will ever want to replace them.
Participating restaurants were Blue Water Café, Cascade Lodge, Restaurant and Pub, Cook County Whole Foods Co-op, Crooked Spoon, Gunflint Mercantile, ISD 166 Culinary Arts Students under the direction of Jason Gesch, Java Moose, Lutsen Resort, My Sister’s Place, Raven Rock Grill and Syport Lodge, and Sven and Ole’s.
A wide array of area businesses and individuals contributed to the silent auction. As people milled about, bidding on silent auction items or sampling food from area chefs, music was provided by Amanda Hand and the Plucked up String Band, or by Doug Sanders on piano, or by the duo of Erika Ternes and Brianna Volbrecht, on piano and vocals.
Volunteer student workers who helped make everything run without a hitch or hiccup included Leif Anderson, Lucy Callender, Connor Franks, Marin Hay, Linnea Henrickson, Merlin Higgins, Andy Kern, Maya McHugh, Lupita Mendvil, Cedrick Rock, and Bryn Soland.
Although the finance for EATS was not fully finalized by press time, Sullivan said, “To date we have taken in $8,332.”
The Cook County School #166 Education Foundation holds EATS. Formed in 1999, CCSDEF, a 501(c) (3) foundation, was created specifically with the goal of providing staff an avenue to seek funding for exceptional educational opportunities, which were unable to be funded by the school district. To date the foundation has raised more than $102,000 for extracurricular activities like Robotics, Knowledge Bowl, and Timber Framing at North House.
Seth Backlund and Brittany Franks dish up Sven & Ole’s soup and pizza. High school Culinary Arts students Cedric Rock and Lupita Mendivil served up a tasty dessert.
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