The Tenth Anniversary celebration of the T.J. Martell Foundation’s Best Cellars Dinner on Monday (4/27), was a great success, raising $160,000 for cancer research at the Frances Williams Preston Laboratories at Nashville’s Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. The event, presented by Eco-Energy Inc., is one of the Foundation’s signature events and is known for pairing Best Sellers (country music’s top selling artists and other celebrities) with Best Cellars (Nashville’s top wine collectors) and an extraordinary gourmet meal prepared by a world renown guest chef. Martina McBride, Jamey Johnson, Amy Grant, Jay DeMarcus, Heidi Newfield, Chynna Phillips, Billy Baldwin, Big Kenny, Kellie Pickler, Karen Fairchild and Jimi Westbrook, Michelle Branch, Jake Owen, Sara Buxton and Tennessee Titans Mike Heimerdinger were in attendance to celebrate the Foundation’s milestone. Guest chef Dean Fearing, chef/partner of Fearing’s at The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas, created a spectacular menu which was paired with a selection of wines from top wine collectors of Nashville and beyond. Big Kenny Alphin, along with wine host Tom Black, conducted a live auction that raised $94,000 by auctioning off dinners in the private homes of Alphin and LeAnn Rimes. Country artist Jamey Johnson also got into the auction spirit by offering his presence at a dinner in the home of wine host Eliza Kraft Olander of Raleigh, North Carolina. Additional items included a trip to New York for the US Open Tennis Championship as well as the Best Cellars Collection of thirteen bottles of wine – a bottle donated by each of the participating wine hosts.
“The Best Cellars Dinner is one of the best events in Music City and it has raised more than $1.5 million for cancer research.” said Joe Galante, Chairman of Sony Music Nashville and Co-Chairman of the Best Cellars Dinner. “The dinner is a wonderful example of how artists give freely of their time and energies and, along with many other caring people, come together for a special evening of food and wine to help make a difference in the lives of others. I am proud of our success over the past ten years and look forward to another great event in 2010.”
For more information about the Best Cellars Dinner and the T.J. Martell Foundation, click here.
(l-r) Big Kenny Alphin; Bill Hearn, President and CEO of EMI Christian Music Group and Co-Chairman of Best Cellars; Billy Ray Hearn, Co-Chairman of Best Cellars; Joe Galante, Chairman of Sony Music Nashville; Phran Galante; Chef Dean Fearing of Fearing’s at The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas; Dr. Hal Moses, Director of the Frances Williams Preston Laboratories at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center; Laura Heatherly, Executive Director of the T.J. Martell Foundation – Nashville Division; RCA Artist Jake Owen; Jennifer Pietenpol, Director of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. (Photo: Alan L. Mayor)
Category: Featured, Organizations
