The Rumrunners 2009 Celebrity Chef Night Aug. 19 promises to match good food, good drink and good company in one amazing culinary experience.
 
The event, to be held from 6-9 p.m. at Rumrunners, is being presented by Century 21 Sunbelt Realty.  Barbara Watt and Bob Biggs will play host for this premier evening, with proceeds to benefit Barbara's Kids- The Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida's Cancer Program.  The event also kicks off the Cat Country "Helping Kids With Cancer" Radiothon.
 
This special evening will feature the culinary talents of chefs from Rumrunners, The Joint, H2 Tapas and Wine Bar, Mad Takeout, and Norman Love of Norman Love Confections and others to create some unique and delicious cuisine and treats.   A special scallop dish will be on the menu from The Joint, and Norman Love will be dishing up a mouth-watering dessert treat. Chef Scott, formerly from Cin Cin, will be creating a dish with duck, and Ruth Cohen from Mad Takeout will offer a special gourmet salad. Rumrunners celebrity chefs Todd Johnson and Ralph Centalonza, Jr. will share their passion for fine cuisine with oven roasted filet mignon, homemade gnocchi's, and a dish featuring sautéed wild mushrooms and lobster meat, with a special sauce to compliment the filet and lobster.  "This is our seventh year,'' said chef Todd Johnson.  "The first year we did it, Hurricane Charlie made us move the date, and we still pretty much sold out; a testimony to its success,'' he said.  "Every year has been better than the last.''
 
The event will feature music by J.P.H. & The Reggae Jam, a silent and "gallery auction,'' as well as an opportunity to bid on several  special boating excursions, including a sunset  cruise with evening candlelight dinner for four personally prepared by Chef Todd Johnson of Rumrunners.  A special treat will be the double diamond champagne toast with flutes of champagne containing one sparkling stone each selling to those hoping to be the lucky two buyers who find genuine diamonds at the bottoms of their glasses.
 
"This is a fantastic event to benefit the kids.  About $250,000 has been raised in the past six years from this one event alone,'' according to Duane Higgins, director of Planned Giving and Major Gifts for Lee Memorial Health System Foundation.  "I think that with the culinary delights matched by tempting gifts at the silent auction and the champagne toast, that this year's will be just as much a success or more."
 
Along with some special young patients from the Children's Hospital, Dr. Emad Salman, pediatric-oncologist and chairman of the Pediatrics Department for the Children's Hospital will be special guests at the event.
 
Barbara's Friends Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Outpatient Center  as treated over 3,000 sick children from the five-county area of Southwest Florida.   The Children's Hospital receives no direct tax support and depends on philanthropic funds to support its many pediatric oncology and hematology programs and services not reimbursed by public or private health insurance.
 
The public is invited to be a sponsor or donate a charitable item for the auction.  Tickets are $125 per person.  To make a reservation or learn more, call 239-985-3550.