Crazy Waiter Event Raises Record AmountSaturday night was a very good night for Combined Community Services.
The annual Crazy Waiter/Dancing Under the Stars Event held at 2517 raised more than $38,000 for CCS.
For the third straight year, David and Natalie Brown took home top honors at the event, receiving 1,808 votes. Votes were $5 each, meaning that the Browns, who danced a rumba, raised $9,040 for the event.The Browns competed against four other couples for the coveted crystal-ball trophy. Kelly Britton and Kevin Whisenant, who danced a crowd-pleasing salsa, won the People's Choice Award at the event.
Steve and Lori Grossnickle danced an East Coast swing, Tina and Brandon Keaffabor did a Lindy Hop, and Jim and Ila Linton performed a triple East Coast swing to round out the competition.
While winners were determined by the number of $5 votes they received, there was a panel of "judges" who commented on the performances. Judges were Joe Schroeder, local comedian; Deb Collier, owner and instructor at Deb Collier's School of Dance; and Jennifer Mink and Julie Hall, owners of Ruby in downtown Warsaw.
In total, 2,777 votes were received, raising $13,885 for CCS.
CCS Board President Joe Jarbone spoke at the event and announced that CCS will be moving in the future. The building that currently houses CCS has been sold, and land has been purchased for a new, larger building. More information about the new building project will be released in coming weeks.
Along with the dancing competition, four items were sold in a live auction.
A Pacers package with four club-level tickets to the Indiana Pacers game against the Detroit Pistons March 19 sold for $550; a NASCAR pit crew package for either the Michigan or Chicago Nationwide Series Race including pit passes and ML Motorsports shirts and hats sold for $2,100.
A tour of Marco Island, Fla., on Dane and Mary Louise Miller's luxury yacht for up to 12 people, including wine and hors d'oeuvres and dinner at the Marco Island Yacht Club, sold for $3,100.
But the big item of the evening was a one-week vacation at the Miller's Marco Island vacation home and condo for up to 12 people. Both the house and the condo have swimming pools, and a bottle of red wine and white wine at each place, an afternoon trip on the Miller's yacht to Naples and dinner at the Marco Island Yacht Club. A phone-in bid for $10,000 was received before the event, and then Dane Miller announced that if anyone else wanted to bid $10,000 for the vacation he would open it up for another week.
When a $10,000 bid was not received, Miller said he would accept a smaller bid, and the second week of vacation with all the trimmings sold for $8,000.
Local chefs from the area teamed up to cook dinner for the event, with Dane Miller preparing beef and chicken satay with a peanut sauce for hors d'oeuvres, ham and bean soup, and his "famous" carmel sauce to top the Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake provided by Rockhill Pinnick LLP for dessert. The beef, chicken and ham for the dishes was provided by Eagle Creek Farms, Winona Lake.
Mark Guerra prepared melon wrapped in prosciutto with meat provided by Owens, while 1000 Park Baking Co. provided bruschetta as well as assorted breads for the event.
Noa Noa prepared its shrimp salad, while garlic-rubbed chicken, creamy jasmine risotto and manchego with fresh basil were prepared by chefs from Cerulean, and Mark Guerra prepared ratatouille, and chefs from Bogey's Steakhouse made oven-roasted new reds Assisi.
