Benefit raises funds for Vail Valley kids program

VAIL, Colorado – Vail restaurateur and “Top Chef” Kelly Liken joined forces with a quartet of Brush Creek Elementary School students Aug. 20 to produce a four-course meal, all to benefit the Vail Valley Foundation’s Sowing Seeds educational initiative.

Hosted by Margie and Tom Gart at their Lake Creek home, the event raised funds for the pilot greenhouse project at Brush Creek Elementary.

Created in conjunction with Liken, Sowing Seeds students plant and care for their own gardens in the Brush Creek greenhouse.

Assisting Liken in the kitchen, along with serving appetizers to the guests were Brush Creek Elementary students Clementine Perkins, Abby Fields, Maddy Fields and Christopher Seabury. They were joined by Sandra Story, director of the Sowing Seeds program, as well as Brush Creek Elementary Principal Anne Heckman.

The herbs that Liken utilized in the preparation of the meal were grown in the Brush Creek greenhouse by the students.