It wasn’t your typical Valentine’s Day weekend for Ivy Tech culinary students Matt Parker, Bill Lanter, Diane Fredericks and Dave Hardy. They chose to indulge their talents and taste buds in a decadent chocolate extravaganza entitled: “For the Love of Chocolate”. The event, recently held at Chicago’s historic South Shore Cultural Center, was a benefit for the daughter of former Ivy Tech culinary instructor, Dave Woodrich. Woodrich’s daughter, Abigail, is in desperate need of a kidney transplant.

In addition to featuring exotic cocktails and divine desserts from Chicago restaurants, Ivy Tech culinary students served up a savory dish of butternut soft polenta topped with slow-roasted pulled pork finished with a roasted fennel rub.

Ivy Tech students prepare their dish.

Attended by over 850 chocolate lovers, “For the Love of Chocolate”, raised more than fifty-five thousand dollars. All proceeds from the event will be split between Abigail’s fund with the Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA), to help defray the cost of the transplant and lifelong medications, and the Children’s Memorial Hospital.