Orpheum “Food” Fundraiser

  Honored to serve as a date for Go Wichita’s Shakila Saifullah (she’s the new Marketing Director), I attended my first Celebrity & Chef Cook-off this week at Wichita’s Marriott Hotel.    

Wow!  Yes the food was nummy but can you say power crowd?  (Say it with real feeling and it will be ever more impressive.)  The best part of that, is a lot of those people, are some of my favorite people in Wichita.   We gave the chick from Splurge a run for her money, taking advantage of as many photo ops as we possibly could without attracting too much attention to ourselves!  (I did afterall at this point, have food stains on my Paris-bought suit! ) If you must know it was the Right one…and it was chocolate icing!

  I hate to be a name dropper, but really, there’s just no other way to do it.  In no particular order we must start with my very first “vacation” sweetheart.

  Devin Hansen and I met on a trip to Hawaii when we were like 10 years old (YES, our parents were with us).   He’s taken over the family business Sunflower Travel, is obviously a Wichita Wagon Master by his get-up here, and I learned on this night,  he’s also Chairman of the Go Wichita Board, Go Devin.  

 

Then I think this might be the first picture Spangle’s Spokeswoman Rene Steven and I have ever taken together, though we’ve been to about a bazillion events together.  We also go to the same church and have an idea to “hook” up in the future.  I’ll leave it at that, cause that sounds SEXY.  Might I add, I could eat a Strawberry Sundae from Spangles ANYTIME, ANYWHERE.

 

   WSU’s Don and Shirley Beggs are perhaps the nicest people in our city, probably the state, and perhaps even the planet.  Shirley is battling breast cancer and finishes chemo this week.  Hers is the only story I wish I had been able to tell before my TV career was over.  Heck, Shirley can I just write your book?

 

 

I couldn’t NOT post this picture just because Shakila’s finger is the most prominent part of the scene!  I love KWCH’s Bruce Haertl, who was there as a judge.  Competitive son-of-a-gun that he is won the past three years.  He tells me though his chefs worked his butt off, which makes me glad I was never a big enough name to be asked to “cook” for the Orpheum.     

    I have no idea which Celebrity won this years contest, but I do know I didn’t get the bike I was bidding on in the Silent Auction.  I also know that we were all there to raise money for the Orpheum Theatre.  Oh how I love that building.  Funny how I love just about anything old, the older I get.  If you haven’t been to this event, put it on the list for next year.  Good eats, good people, good cause.  (Oh, and there’s going to be a lot more pictures over on Facebook! – Since this is getting long the rest will show up over there.)

Posted: June 18th, 2009 | Author: anitacochran | Filed under: Where's Anita? | Tags: Bruce Haertl, Celebrity, Devin Hansen, Donald Beggs, KWCH, Orpheum, Rene Steven, Shirley Beggs, Spangle's, Wichita, WSU | 3 Comments »

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