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Presidents Message -February 2003
Well our first meeting of the new year turned out to be
both educational and fun, getting us off to a good start for
2003. As you know this meeting was our annual Junior Fundraiser,
with this year’s theme being a winter carnival. Two Christmas
trees covered with prize balls, which were tied to over 250 donated
gifts, highlighted the meeting. There was also a silent auction,
a 50-50 raffle and 40 tables of specialty foods available for
sampling. I was thrilled to see the spectacular turnout for this
year’s event, as ECB members and their guests all worked
together to raise the funds needed to support our Junior Team.
Because of the success of the fundraiser, we will be able to
send our Junior Team to Philadelphia to compete against the best
of the ACF Northeast Regional Junior Teams. Our 2003 team members
are: John Magliocco, Michael Clancy, Pongrepee Sukapat, Jennifer
Higgins, Todd Morneault, along with team coaches and advisors
Joe Rocco, Kevin Hanrahan, CEC, Steve LaCount, CEC, AAC and Jeremy
DiStefano, CSC.
I would like to recognize and thank our Junior Fundraiser Committee,
who labored some long hours to make this event such a great success.
I’d like to express sincere thanks to: Co-Chair Anthony
Giuffre, CEC, CCE; Co-Chair Kevin Hanrahan, CEC; Co-Chair Jeremy
DiStefano, CSC; Joe Rocco; John Magliocco; Michael Clancy; Pongrepee
Sukapat; Jennifer Higgins and Todd Morneault. On behalf of the
ECB, special thanks should also go out to all of the companies
who participated, all who donated prizes, and of course to all
of you for attending this important meeting. Oh, and GO TEAM!
As you read on further in this newsletter, you will see that
there will be a change with our usual February meeting. Unfortunately,
we will not be able to host our annual joint ECB/Canadian meeting
this year, due to a reduction in Canadian Consulate’s 2003
budget. Because of this cut, they were unable cover the airfare
costs and hotel fees for the Chef and the Canadian vendors. The
Board was very disappointed about this, and we are hoping to
reschedule a similar joint meeting with another consulate for
the Fall. In any event, our February meeting will instead be
held at the Cabot Creamery on February 24th at 6 p.m., and. I
look forward to seeing you there.
I would like to take a moment to acknowledge Steve LaCount, CEC,
AAC and to send him our best wishes as he takes the ACF Master
Chef exam at the CIA. The test will begin at the end of January
and will continue into the first week of February. Steve, no
matter what the outcome, you are undoubtedly one of the best
chefs around, and a “master” in our eyes.
Congratulations are in order for Anthony Graffeo, CEC, AAC on
his nomination for the “Herman Rush Lifetime Achievement
Award”, as well for as his lovely wife Denise Graffeo, CEC,
AAC on her nomination as one of the finalists for the ACF Northeast
Regional Chef Professional Award. I think we’ll have to
refer to Tony & Denise as the “Dynamic Duo” because
of all of their accomplishments!
Many thanks to Corporate Chef Terry Burns of Market Dynamics
for his assistance in acquiring a $300 scholarship donation from
the MJ Minor Corp. Great work, Terry - we appreciate your help!
In closing, I’d like to remind each of you to feel free
to bring a colleague along to one of our upcoming meetings, and
I thank you in advance for introducing others to our wonderful
community.
Warmest regards,
Rico DiFronzo, CEC
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