Get TIO in your Inbox!

Telluride-based One to One hosts Top Chef fundraiser, 8/19 at The Peaks

14 Aug Telluride-based One to One hosts Top Chef fundraiser, 8/19 at The Peaks

Posted at 16:49h in Around Telluride, Foodies, Old Events by
0 Likes

[click “Play”, Vivien Russell and Rick Fusting talk about One To One and the “Top Chef” event]

1__#$!@%!#__unknown A few smart Telluride non-profits seem to have gotten the message when New York Times columnist Tom Friedman entreated President Obama to make 2010 “the year of innovation” (NYT January 23 Op Ed).  Events such as the San Miguel Research Center’s/Two Skirts’ “Clutch for the Cause,” The Telluride AIDS Benefit’s “Intoxicating Cuisine,” the Telluride Historical Museum’s Muleskinners’ Ball are all examples of what happens when the tough get going.

Telluride-based One to One San Miguel Mentoring Program has also stepped up to the challenge of  how to get enough pie when the overall pie has shrunk. Like many regional non-profits, One to One experienced funding cuts. The reaction: stage a lollapalooza of a first-ever fundraising event.

On Thursday, August 19, 6 – 9 p.m., at The Peaks, One to One hosts a Wine Tasting & Telluride Top Chef Competition, which also includes live music by Westward magazine’s choice of Colorado’s Singer-Songwriter of the Year, Rob Drabkin, also in the line-up for Blues & Brews.

Top Chef is Bravo’s American reality competition show on which chefs compete against one another in culinary challenges. (Capella Telluride’s former top chef Kenny Gilbert is a contender this year.) Competing at the One to One’s event are Eliza Gavin of 221 South Oak, Erich Owen of The New Sheridan Chop House, Mark Reggiannini of La Marmotte and ChefBud (Bud Thomas of Taste Bud’s Catering). Local celebrity judges will decide the winner.

One to One targets at risk youth in Telluride, Mountain Village, Norwood, Naturita, and Nucla, pairing them with mentors who help guide their social, emotional and academic development. The program was started in 1993 by Telluride locals and still-standing board members, John Mansfield and Allen Gerstle. John was the Juvenile Diversion Officer and Allen was the Director of Social Services. In dealing with children and families in crisis, the two saw the need for a mentoring organization in the  greater Telluride community. One to One began as a branch of Delta-Montrose Partners, and later worked under the umbrella of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of La Plata County. In 1999, the board of directors created the independent mentoring organization known as One to One. Starting with 35 children, One to One has since served over 340 individual youths in San Miguel County through a variety of programs tailored to address a diverse array of needs.

To learn more about One to One and its upcoming Peaks fundraiser, click the “play” button and listen to board president Rick Fusting and executive director Vivien Russell’s podcast.

No Comments

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.