Event benefits local non-profit Kids Who Care Musical Theatre

FORT WORTH, TX  – The 15th Annual Cookin’ for Kids, a benefit event featuring Fort Worth’s original celebrity chef cook-off, will be held on Sunday, March 4, 2012 at the new Cendera Center. Twelve professional chefs will compete in this year’s live cook-off showdown. Among the 2012 competitors are chefs from Grace, Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse, Fred’s Texas Café, Saint-Emilion, Central Market Southlake and New Asia. 

Cookin’ for Kids is the single largest fundraising event each year for Kids Who Care, a non-profit musical theatre organization that is dedicated to producing creative and confident kids through musical theatre education, performance and leadership opportunities. All proceeds benefit Kids Who Care and help provide scholarships, youth leadership training and other support that makes Kids Who Care arts education and performances available to families in the community. Jack Larson, Jason Lovelady, Paige Pate and Brook Whitworth are the Chairs of this year’s event. 

Otto Borsich of Central Market Southlake at the 2011 Cookin' for Kids. Jon Uzzel Photography

During the evening, top area chefs and notable Texans will team up to support Kids Who Care in a race against the clock to create the evening’s winning plate.  With only a basket of surprise ingredients and 2 Bunsen burners, each team creates two plates – one for the judges and another that will be auctioned off to the evening’s highest bidder.  

The 2012 Cookin' for Kids chef lineup is:

• Otto Borsich - Central Market Southlake
• Debra Cantrell – Savor Culinary Services
• Janet Capua - Cuisine for Healing
• Terry Chandler – Fred’s Texas Café
• Hui Chuan – New Asia
• Anthony Felli - Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse
• Mark Hitri – Saint-Emilion
• Molly McCook – Ellerbe’s Fine Foods
• Denise Paul Shavandy – TSTC Culinary Institute
• Blaine Staniford - Grace
• Christof Syre – The Café on the Green
• Ke’o Velasquez – Premier Residence  

Notable Texans assisting the chefs during the evening's competition are:

• Amy Adkins – President, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra
• Hal Brown – Publisher, Fort Worth Texas Magazine
• Joel Burns – City Councilman, District 9
• Walter Dansby – Superintendent, Fort Worth ISD
• Nancy Lamb – Local Painter
• Mark McLemore – Former Texas Rangers 2nd Baseman; Fox Sports Southwest/TXA 21 Pre & Post Game Analyst
• Susan K. Medina – President, SKM Communications Strategies and Local Columnist
• Rosa Navejar – President/CEO, Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
• Betsy Price – Mayor, City of Fort Worth
• Janine & Juliette Turner – Talk Radio Show Host; Constituting America 

Judges for the evening will include

• Joseph Vincelli – Saxophonist, Flutist, Author, Clinician and co-originator of the first Cookin’ for Kids
• Jon Bonnell – Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine
• Sonny Burgess – Singer, Songwriter
• Kathleen Hicks – City Councilwoman, District 8

The evening will feature the professional chef cook-off, live entertainment by the Kids Who Care Resident Company, tasting stations from the area’s finest restaurants, plus silent, big board and live auctions. 

Tasting stations that will participate include: Coors Distributing Company of Fort Worth, Hoffbrau Steaks, Ke’o Velasquez Premier Residence Dallas, Margarita Express, New Asia, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen, The Pour House, Savor Culinary Services, Sweet Tomatoes, Vance Godbey’s Catering, Winslow's Wine Café and Z's Café. 

Sponsors for the event include: The Happy Davis Foundation, Frost Bank, Mellina & Larson, P.C., Ben E. Keith Foods, Freese & Nichols, Wills Pro Custom Teresa and Billy Pels, Cook Children’s Health Foundation, Laughlin Sales Corp., Friends and Family of Mackenzie Medaris, Jim and Sue Moore, Mike and Shelly O’Toole, Standard Parking, Paige and Graham Pate, Karen Vermaire Fox, Fort Worth Texas Magazine and 92.1 HANK FM. 

The 15th Annual Cookin’ for Kids benefit event will take place on Sunday, March 4, 2012 at 5:00 p.m. at Cendera Center, located in Fort Worth just off the Weatherford traffic circle at 3600 Benbrook Highway, 76116. Reserved tables of 8 are $1500. Individual tickets are $125 each. Sponsorship opportunities are still available. All proceeds benefit Kids Who Care, a non-profit organization. 

For more information or to purchase tickets, please contact 817.737.5437 or lori@kidswhocare.org.

About Kids Who Care

Founded in 1989, Kids Who Care is a non-profit international theatre company based in Fort Worth, Texas that seeks to produce creative and confident kids through musical theatre education, performance, and leadership opportunities. Kids Who Care offers professional musical theatre classes, leadership training, summer musical theatre camps, international cultural exchanges, a touring Resident Company, public performances and more. The Kids Who Care Resident Company has performed Off-Broadway at the Lamb's Theatre, at both Disney's, at The Kennedy Center, at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, at 30,000 feet aboard an airplane for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and at many other locations across the U.S. and overseas. The core values of the organization include: excellence in artistic development, artistic integrity of kids, leadership roles for kids, financial and cultural diversity and ensemble production. For more information, please visit www.kidswhocare.org