8-Foot-Tall Gingerbread House Gives Back in Downtown Rochester
It's in the lobby of the Royal Park Hotel; if you sponsor a "brick," you're helping the Salvation Army's Red Kettle campaign.
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If you're in downtown Rochester and smell gingerbread, chances are that smell is coming from the lobby of the Royal Park Hotel.
An 8-foot-tall gingerbread house, a holiday tradition in Rochester, was unveiled Wednesday morning. The house is made entirely from pastry ingredients: 220 cups of sugar, 300 pounds of gingerbread mix and 400 candy canes, for starters.
Pastry chef Mark Slessor and his staff built the house.
It's a creation that gives back: proceeds from "brick" certificates for the house support the Salvation Army's 2012 Red Kettle Campaign (for a minimum $10 donation, you can own a brick on the house, and the David W. Elliott Foundation will double-match each brick certificate that is sold.)
Proceeds from dessert sales at the hotel during the holiday season will also contribute to the campaign.
"If you are poor and it's Christmastime, you really know you're poor," said Herb Fuqua of the Salvation Army, which has a goal of $8.5 million for this year's Red Kettle Campaign. "We like to provide hope and want to make sure people don't give up."
You can visit the gingerbread house throughout the holiday season in the hotel lobby. It is free to visit.
For more about the Salvation Army and to donate, visit www.salmich.org.
Alan Stamm
6:05 pm on Saturday, November 17, 2012
This inspires a bit of cheap-shot snark Nov. 16 from Detroit journalist Sarah Cox, editor of a regional real estate blog called Curbed Detroit:
"Is a house made of food the most sensitive way to help those in need of both housing and food? That's your call.
"Here's a fundraising idea, though: Move it to Corktown, put it on Craigslist, say it's near Slow's. With that location, anything remotely house-shaped will rent for at least $700/month, easy." [ http://bit.ly/Qio7sq ]
Remember now, Kristin: I'm just the messenger ;--}
Kristin Bull
8:58 pm on Saturday, November 17, 2012
Thanks, as always, for pointing that out, Alan. "Cheap-shot snark?" What do you think, gingerbread fans?
Amy Whipple
11:34 pm on Sunday, November 18, 2012
Rochester residents are incredibly philanthropic and give back in so many ways. I commend The Royal Park for this extraordinary tradition and unique way of giving to those in need. I can't wait to take my children and purchase a brick. I find it appalling that anyone would try to find something negative about this... I am looking forward to celebrating the magic if the season and seeing the pastry team's creation. Thank you Royal Park for giving back....