Winners announced for Starkville Restaurant Week
The presentation of awards for Starkville Restaurant Week was held on Friday, April 28, at 11 a.m., where winners were announced and prizes were given to the most-voted restaurants.
During the Week of April 17 to April 23, diners at Starkville eateries had the opportunity to vote which local charity received a $5,000 prize from Cadence Bank. The three finalists were Children's of Mississippi, T.K. Martin Center for Technology and Disability and Young Life.
The overall winning charity was T.K. Martin Center. The center's director, Janie Cirlot-New, and families affected by the center's work all accepted the $5,000 check from Cadence Bank together, which was presented by Jimmy Abraham from Cadence Bank.
With an award of $1,000, Children's of Mississippi won second prize. The award was accepted by Andrew Russell, the Children's Miracle Network coordinator. It was presented by Austin Vollor and Benjamin Lang from Vollor-Lang Attorneys at Law.
The $500 reward for the third place charity was presented to Young Life, which was presented by Brian Kelley of Ross Kelley Law Firm to Young Life Starkville members.
"We have tremendous support from the families we serve, and this is all because of them," T.K. Martin Center director Janie Cirlot-New said after being
presented the first place award for the center.
Restaurant Week was made possible by the participating restaurants, the sponsors and the Greater Starkville Development Partnership
The winner of 2016 Starkville Restaurant Week was Backpack Buddies.
Susan Tomlinson, a representative for Backpack Buddies said how much of an impact the $5,000 awarded to them last year made. With the extra money, the Backpack Buddies program was able to add fresh fruit and even dental hygiene supplies to its food donations every Friday.