About 450 people whetted their
appetites Sunday for the 4th an-
nual Carpenter’s Cook-off and
raised nearly $80,000 for the Carpenter’s Shelter Transitional Services Program in tickets and auction sales. Inside the Birchmere, 22 restaurants — several of them returning for the fourth year — had tables featuring new and signature dishes. The Del Merei’s Grille pulled pork barbecue was the winner of the people’s choice award, and the kid’s choice winner was the variety of confections presented by the Holing Hall Pastry Shop.
Honorary chefs for the events were U.S. Rep Jim Moran (D-8); Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille; Philip Mangano, executive director, U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness; Helen Thomas, White House Correspondent; Pat McGee of The Pat McGee Band; Mark Moseley and Brian Mitchell, former Washington Redskins; and Matt Murrell, the founder of Five Guys Burgers & Fries.
Carpenter’s Shelter, based in the Hubert N. Hoffman Jr. Center for Homeless Families at 930 N. Henry St., serves families throughout Northern Virginia with a goal of ending homelessness, rather than accommodating it. For more information on the Carpenter’s Shelter and its programs, call 703-548-7500 or visit www.carpentersshelter.org.