Kenna Walsh
VALDOSTA — Hundreds of hungry lunchgoers flocked to the 11th Annual Taste of Valdosta Saturday afternoon to sample specialties from local restaurants, including Las Banderas, Honeybaked Ham, Sonny’s Real Pit Bar-B-Q and Bruster’s Real Ice Cream.
Booths were set up inside the James H. Rainwater Conference Center, and wooden tokens — a half-dollar apiece — were sold. At each booth, a number of tokens would buy a sweet, salty, spicy or cheesy treat.
Proceeds from the benefit, hosted by Quota International of Valdosta, go toward the Children’s Advocacy Center, the Lowndes Advocacy Resource Center (LARC), Miracle League of Valdosta and New Freedom Inc. Around $20,000 was expected to be raised.
From pizza to shrimp on a stick and chocolate-dipped cookies, Valdostans plunked wooden cash into eager hands to help needy people.
Susan Cherry, president for Quota International of Valdosta, said the event will benefit children and adults of the various designated organizations.
The Valdosta Quota group’s 63 members vote each year on a list of organizations that ask for support. The money goes toward a variety of needs. In the past, Taste of Valdosta dollars have helped build a room at the Child Advocacy Center and gave health care and food to Rocket, a horse used for therapeutic care at New Freedom Inc.
Lynn Folsom, a volunteer for New Freedom, has seen Taste of Valdosta work miraclesfirsthand. A few years ago, she was bound to a wheelchair, weakened by multiple sclerosis. Riding a horse helped her strengthen muscles while healing her spirit.
Today, she stands, looking to provide a new freedom for children and adults through therapeutic horseback riding.
Another beneficiary, The Miracle League of Valdosta, will use Taste of Valdosta proceeds to help install wheelchair-friendly synthetic turf fields. The League is looking for a spot in Lowndes County to put in a rubberized baseball field.
Lorna Mullis, Miracle League volunteer, said Saturday’s event benefited the organization financially and gave them a chance to get out into the community.
Cherry said the annual judges’ taste-off yielded Las Banderas, The Scoop Ice Cream and Sandwich Shop and Honeybaked Ham as winners. In the “Best Decorated Booth” category, Las Banderas won first prize for its festive decorations and Wendy’s came in second, with a costumed Wendy walking around.
Quota International was founded in 1919 as the first international women’s service organization.
Lynne Capece, president-elect, said Quota has distributed funds from past Taste of Valdosta events to fund meals-on-wheels for elderly adults and send children of cancer victims to a camp through Hospice of South Georgia.
Quota has clubs in North America, South America, the South Pacific, Europe, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean.
