Guests enjoyed an array of delicious food, beer and wine tastings at the 3rd annual Small Plates Big Heart event on Thursday, March 20th at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in downtown Denver. This year’s attendees enjoyed live music from the Stephen Thurston Trio while sampling innovative dishes from eight of the top restaurants in Denver. Chefs put their dishes to the test and competed for awards including People’s Choice and Judge, with Jezebel’s Southern Bistro and Bones taking the awards, respectively. The event, which benefits The Adoption Exchange, also featured a live auction with items ranging from food, beer and wine gift packages, to a beer-centerd trip to Boston. CBS4 Denver’s Britt Moreno and Tom Mustin served as the night’s emcees and spoke about the work The Adoption Exchange does for the area’s youth in need of a “forever home.”
The goal of The Adoption Exchange is to recruit families for children who have survived abuse and neglect, support adoptive families throughout every phase of the adoption process, and train child welfare professionals. The Adoption Exchange maintains a national training presence, and connects children in eight member states CO, MO, NV, NM, OK, SD, UT and WY with American families living here and abroad.
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- Live auction items up for bid at the event
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- The Stephen Thurston Trio performed for the crowd
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- Event Coordinator Kylene Trask, with husband Tim
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- Title sponsors Bob Schneebeck and Cathy Hyams from RBC Wealth Management
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- Board members from left, Dave Zinger, Bill Baldwin and Ray Nutt
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- Ashley Morgenstern and Andy Boshoven
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- Voluteers Maria Ramirez and Jennifer Burton
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- Adoption Exchange volunteers Janine Castillo and Sara Bennett
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- Voluteers at the check-in table, clockwise from top left, Kylene Trask, Matt Rivera, Kathy McGill and April Gomez
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- Some of the delicious small plates from the event
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- Nick Desario, from Bones, puts the finishing touches on the small plates
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- Desserts from the event
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- Birdie Balistrei and Angelina Domenico from Balisteri Winery
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- Tom Goodwin and Nicole Canterbury
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- Nick Crutsinger and Stacy Lane enjoy samples from New Belgium
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- C.H. Miley, left, with wife Laurie and Dave Little
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- Matthew Adrian, left, with Lowell Adrian
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- Janet Perlstein, center, with Jeff and Sue Johanning
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- Event Volunteers Kim Immel, left, with Cathy Bauer
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- From left, Cassandra Trester, with Tim Chitester and Chris Chitester
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- Donna Owens, left, poses with Bonnie Zueter
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- Jim and Bev Morrato
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- Vivian More and Christos Neo
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- Tasting judges Barbie Schneebeck and Laura Davis
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- Representing Table 6, Chef Carrie Shores and Aaron Forman
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- Committee members Mark and Michelle Cannon
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- Patti Taylor and Alexandra Griesmer
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- Alex Oberg and Connor Wiseman
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- The event was held at The Grand Hyatt in Downtown Denver
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- Guests mingled and enjoyed food, beer, and wine tastings before the program and live auction
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- Rachel Paine
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- Carrie Metzger and Thad Beller
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- Steve and Wendy Hulse
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- Board Vice Chair Tim Wieland spoke to the crowd about the work the organization does
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- A live auction, hosted by auctioneer Sean Allen, benefitted the Adoption Exchange
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- Executive Director Lauren Arnold addresses the crowd
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- Britt Moreno and Tom Mustin from CBS4 Denver served as the night’s emcees
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- Chef Scott Durrah from Jezebel’s accepts the People’s Choice award
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- Bones received the Judge’s award for Best Chef of Denver
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- Brad McNealy, Chair of the Board of Directors, closed out the evening
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- CBS4’s Britt Moreno shared a sneek peek into a segment she did with a few of the Adoption Exchanges youth
