On Thursday, October 15, friends and neighbors filled the GenPro Building at the Central States Fairgrounds for Fork Real Community Café's 5th Annual Chef's Dinner Auction. It was an evening full of laughter, good food and community, and by the end of the night, $48,635 had been given in support of Fork Real's mission of empowering people through food.
To everyone who bid, gave, cooked, volunteered, sponsored or simply showed up ready to have fun: thank you. Here's a look back at the night.
Chef Karen A. serving charcuterie mini cups.
A room full of chefs (and one very popular gator)
Guests made their way around the room tasting samples from this year's featured chefs:
April Malik, Thai To-Go: spring rolls with dipping sauces
Brad Baker, Honey-Do BBQ: brisket sliders
Randy Brown, Fork Real Café: smoked gator and gumbo
Lukas Cann, Dave Pearcy and the Fork Real Food Truck: Lukas's favorite chicken Alfredo
Jana and Paul Shankle with food by Rhonda Pearcy: strawberry s'mores
Jeff Slathar, ACF Certified Pastry Chef: dessert flambé
Karen Anagnostopulos, Karen A's Charcuterie: charcuterie mini cups
Pat Bilek: spatzel
Chef Fred Ferrara: Martinique shrimp salad
Randy's smoked gator got plenty of reactions from guests working up the nerve to try it.
Each chef also offered an experience for the live auction, from a hands-on Thai roll class for up to 15 guests to a five-course table-side dinner for four to a Southern feast of gator, gumbo and peach cobbler. The Fork Real Food Truck sparked a bidding war, with guests competing to bring the truck to their home or business next season to feed up to 30 people.
The Human Slot Machine!
A Dessert Dash, a human slot machine and plenty of laughs
This year brought our first-ever Dessert Dash. Each table pooled its money to claim a dessert to share, which turned dessert into a table-against-table contest. Thank you to the Mary Martha Circle from First Baptist for making the Dessert Dash happen.
Then there was the human slot machine. Three women stood inside boxes, and when a guest gave the machine a spin, all three windmilled their arms and held up a random fruit or vegetable. Three of a kind earned a prize pull, with prizes including a voucher for a free holiday dessert box from Fork Real.
Jeff Kingsbury emceed and ran the live auction, and his running commentary kept people laughing between bids.
Chef Randy, featured story and evening chef.
The stories behind the food
Two short videos introduced guests to Randy and Raven, two members of the Fork Real team.
Randy first came to Fork Real while serving time at the minimum unit in Rapid City, assigned to the café as his community service job. He found the same love and respect for everyone who walked in, and it gave him a sense of purpose. Later, Rhonda called to ask if he knew any cooks who needed work. His answer: "Yeah, me." Today he cooks at Fork Real and calls it a complete turnaround. "It makes me feel like a human being," he said.
Raven was living on the streets and struggling with addiction when she found out she was pregnant, and she spent the rest of her pregnancy in jail. Later, her care coordinator mentioned that Fork Real was hiring, just a walk away. At her last job, no one bothered to learn her name. At Fork Real, customers know her name and she knows theirs. Now in recovery with a two-year-old son, she's working toward her GED. "Being from on the streets and into addiction and now being able to work at a place that gives back like that, it's great," she said.
Longtime food truck volunteer Lukas took the mic to share that when it came time to write his college application essay, he wrote about Fork Real. Volunteering on the truck shaped who he is, he said, and gave him a second family.
Thank you to our donors and sponsors
The silent auction tables were packed with items donated by our community. Guests bid on a Traeger Pro Series 22 pellet grill, a helicopter ride over the Black Hills, a deacon bench from Rise Furniture made from antique beds, a home brewing experience with Chris Powers, a Dakota Seafood boil bucket for 12, eight tickets to the Black Hills Playhouse with a picnic basket, and even a unicycle class. Thank you to every business and neighbor who donated an item.
This evening would not happen without our sponsors:
$5,000: Westjet Air Center
$2,500: Black Hills Energy
$1,000: AVID Engineers, BH Metal Fabrication, Ketel Thorstenson, Kumelos Designs & Construction, Monument Health, State Farm, Tessiers HVAC
$500: Black Hills Alliance, Black Hills Property Group, Muth Electric, RE/MAX Darby Dark-Smiley, Rise Now, Sentinel Federal Credit Union, The Exchange
In-kind: Black Hills Embroidery, Black Hills Helicopters, Dakota Seafood, Love Inc., Private Stock of Rapid City, Scheels, Tyrrell Tires
Special thanks to the Central States Fairgrounds; the Fork Real board, staff and volunteers; Jared Phipps for sound and tech; Jeff Kingsbury, our emcee and auctioneer; the Mary Martha Circle from First Baptist for the Dessert Dash; Victoria's Garden Center for the centerpieces; and Vela Creative Co. for marketing.
Couldn't make it? You can still be part of the night
We're still working toward our fundraising goal, and if you weren't able to join us, an online gift goes straight to the work you heard about in Randy, Raven and Lukas's stories. To date, Fork Real has served more than 102,000 meals, and volunteers have given more than 94,244 hours. Every $10 feeds someone in our community. Donate online here.
You can also buy a token, good for one meal for someone in our community, or order a holiday cheesecake dessert box. Orders open November 1 at forkrealcafe.org and close December 16, with pecan pumpkin, eggnog, cranberry orange and chocolate peppermint at $32 for a 16-piece box. Every order or gift helps empower people through food.
And save room for next year. Join our mailing list on the Fork Real website to be the first to hear when tickets for the 6th Annual Chef's Dinner Auction go on sale.
Relive the night below!
