Taster’s Choice kicks off Mardi Gras weekend

Mardi Gras is just a bite of king cake away, and the festivities in Eunice kick off Feb. 3 with the Eunice Community Health Center’s 6th Annual Taster’s Choice event.
Yancy Fontenot, executive director of the center, said, “The Taster’s Choice event has become an annual Mardi Gras social event for the Eunice community and surrounding area. People get to sample all kinds of different dishes in one place instead of going to a bunch of different restaurants.”
Tasters will have the chance to sample dishes including entrees, side dishes and desserts from about 20 to 30 chefs, many of whom are cooking more than one dish, and they will also be able to vote for the People’s Choice Award. A five-person panel of judges will also select winners in the professional and amateur categories. Dishes served at past event events include crawfish, deer chili, sweet potato bisque and sauce piquant.
“We are hoping to have more wild game dishes this year,” Fontenot said. “Not everyone has the opportunity to try wild game at home. This year, we will also have hot tamales and enchiladas.’
The event will be held from 6 to 9 p.m at the LSUE Acadiana Center. Tickets are $25 a person and can be purchased at the center, Maple Avenue Pharmacy and Thrifty Way in Basile. Sponsor packages are as follows: $2,500 Gold — 15 tickets and a reserved table; $1,000 — 10 tickets and a reserved table; and $500 Green — five tickets and a reserved table. For more information, call Fontenot at 337-457-1205, Glynn Michaud 337-457-5213 or Kitty Cormier at 337-945-3744.
Live music will be provided by local musician Geno Delafose. There will also be silent and live auctions, and the center’s Facebook page will be updated as auction items are donated. More than 350 people attended last year’s event, and Fontenot said the are hoping for 400 this year.
Taster’s Choice is the center’s biggest fundraiser of the year, and proceeds from the event will benefit the ECHC, which provides free and at-cost medical care for the working uninsured and under-insured people in the area. The event also helps support and fund the center’s free pharmacy.
“We are devoted to making a difference and provide a quality of care in the region,” Fontenot said. “Your donation will help ensure the success of our future as well as help provide needed medications to uninsured children unable to receive Medicaid due to their parents making a few dollars over the federal poverty level, the low income, the uninsured working, under-insured people, and self-pay patient, being discharged from the hospital unable to afford their medications.”
“Our goal is to maintain and provide a good quality of life for the community. We strive to change lives and seen many lives changed for the better.”
Last year, the center’s volunteer pharmacists filled 236,941 prescriptions, and in 2014, they filled 178,311 prescriptions.