The 2009 Book of Hope Luncheon took place at the Boca Raton Resort and Club on Monday, February 23rd. The luncheon raised over $100,000 for the Crohns and Colitis Foundation of America.

Scott Yablon, the honoree, spoke about how he got involved with the organization after his daughter was diagnosed with this chronic disease. Aaron Scharf, a fifteen year old Pine Crest student, gave an impassioned speech about the difficulties of living with the illness. Each speaker stressed the need to raise funds to continue research to help cure this difficult disease.

The luncheon was attended by over 300 people and featured a fashion show by Mayda Cisneros. It was an enjoyable afternoon that benefited a serious illness.

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If you want to see the future of electric cars, be sure to check out this weekend's event at FAU in Jupiter. The Florida Electric Auto Association (FLEAA) is hosting “Battery Beach Burnout”, an alternative fuel / electric vehicle competition on February 21st and 22nd. The free event consists of multiple competitions involving electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.

The action starts at 9:00 a.m. Saturday and attendees will be able to ride in several of the cars on display and vote for their favorite car. Autocross will be held on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. and the competition will conclude at 3:30 PM with a raffle drawing and award ceremony.

One hundred vehicles are expected to be on display throughout the weekend. The stated purpose of Battery Beach Burnout is to raise public and media awareness of the current state of electric and hybrid vehicles and to educate people about green alternative fuel vehicles.

It should be a beautiful weekend and this is a great way to spend time learning about alternative energy technologies that can help solve our transportation, energy and air quality problems.

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Nestled away in the Publix at Polo Club Shoppes is a true community gem, Apron's Cooking School. The school, which is run by Publix, offers classes or events every night of the week but Sunday. There are special guests such as Michelle Bernstein, owner and executive chef of Michy's, and renowned wineries that offer demonstrations showing what foods to pair with what wines.

The classes are categorized as either hands on, demonstration, kid's topic or teen topic. Recent hands on classes include classic chicken recipes, sauces demystified and couples cooking... beer not just for drinking. Upcoming demonstrations include northern italian dinner party, shellfish exposed and big, bad bold reds. For the children, past classes have consisted of a father daughter valentine class and a teens' survivor camp.

The hands on classes are limited to 12 people and fill up very quickly. In the demonstration style classes participants watch as the chef prepares the menu, enjoy tastings of all dishes prepared and get written recipes so the results can be duplicated at home.

For more information and to register for classes go to http://www.publix.com/cooking schools. Bon appetite!

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Charities are always on the lookout for ways to entice people to support their causes and two local organizations have found a novel approach. The Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces ("IDF") and the Boca Raton Community Hospital Go Pink Challenge are both hosting events that feature game playing.

The IDF event takes place on Thursday, February 12th at Woodfield Country Club and features an evening of mah jongg. For more information call Betsy Horowitz at 561 483-2771.

The Go Pink Challenge offers scrabble, bridge, mah jongg, cribbage and canasta and takes place on different days throughout March at various local country club. The Play Dates are open to everyone so you can use this as a chance to visit some of our local country clubs. Contact the BRCH Foundation at 561 955-4142 for further details.

Playing games and supporting charities sounds like a great idea. Put your game face on and let the good times roll.

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