“Out and About” in Winston-Salem with Men Who Cook – SECU Family House

On August 20th, over 325 guests gathered at Legacy Events and Stables in the Forsyth Barn for an evening of entertainment by the “Men who Cook” event for the SECU Family House. This event is an important fundraiser for Family House, a fully independent 501c3 nonprofit that relies on the generosity of donors and events like Men Who Cook to sustain its mission. A generous $2 million challenge grant by the State Employee’s Credit Union named the facility in 2009. Membership to SECU is not required for guests, donors, or volunteers to utilize Family House.

Nicole Doucher from HanesBrands kept the crowd entertained, emceeing the event and pumping up the chefs and guests. The events chair was Kimberly Stone and the Presenting Sponsors were Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist and HanesBrands, as well as many other local sponsors.

The annual Men Who Cook event unites local male celebrity chefs and their cooking teams for an exciting battle of the taste buds. These men come from all professional walks of life, bringing with them their own unique twist to the kitchen. The judges certainly had their work cut out for them!

There were 16 teams that entertained and provided the crowd with scrumptious samples of their work. (Check out the teams at the bottom). Beer and wine were provided by Foothills Brewing and Raylen Vineyards.

“Wow, what a record-breaking year! This year we raised over $183,000 to help support our mission at the SECU Family House. Thank you to our 37 sponsors, thank you to our 36 chefs, thank you to our 30 volunteers, and thank you to the 325 people who attended this year’s Men Who Cook. Words cannot express how grateful I am that you jumped on board to help provide people a place to stay as they seek medical care in our beautiful city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.” ~ Erin Craver, Director of Development

Be sure to save the date for next year’s event, Saturday, August 19th, at Legacy Stables and Events. More prize categories, more judges and lots for fun!

2022 Chef Teams included: Tim Lowe / Lowes Foods; Steve Bratspies / Hanesbrands and Joe Cavaliere / Hanesbrands; Mike Edwards / Novolyze and Mike Blau / Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist; Dr. Kevin High / Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, Ralph Thomas / Realtor and Todd Bankhead / Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist; Jack Elster / Stephens, Inc. and John Elster / Personal Property Solutions LLC; Dr. Lewis Lipscomb / Novant Health and Dr. Stan Fuller / Novant Health; Kevin Heath and Kelly Woodruff; Spencer Bennett / The Meridian Realty Group, Inc. and Mimi Bennett / Community Volunteer; Eddy Forrest / DataMax & Leonard Ryden Burr and George Stabolitis / Arista Builders, Inc & Leonard Ryden Burr; Jonathan Allen / Inmar Intelligence and Ned Erikson; DJ Champlin / Wake Forest University and Anthony Tang / Wake Forest University; Matt & Erica Hearn / Cannon Wealth Management; John Shipley / Carolina Forestry and Meg Shipley / Leonard Ryden Burr; Billy Lentz / Garner Food Company; Jeff Clous / Gwyn Services and Jeff Vance / Gwyn Services; Chris Gillespie / PortionPac Chemical

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Heather Spivey

Forsyth Magazines account executive since 2009. A Winston-Salem native, Heather graduated from Salem College with a double major in English and communications and took graduate classes at the UNC-CH School of Journalism. She has the dual role at Forsyth Magazines of both account executive and writer of the popular Forsyth Family column, “Out and About in Winston-Salem.” She is married to Ron Spivey and they have a son, Jackson. In her spare time, Heather enjoys reading, photography and travel. “I love working with our team, and the flexibility it gives me — it allows me to spend quality time with my family.”

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