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Dishing up gourmet meal for Alzheimer society

Local celebrities will be serving up food and fun at the local Alzheimer Society’s first gala dinner, Making Sweet Memories, on March 27.

Local celebrities will be serving up food and fun at the local Alzheimer Society’s first gala dinner, Making Sweet Memories, on March 27.

Duane Steele, country singer and now celebrity waiter, said he never worked in restaurants growing up in Northern Alberta.

He made money as a logger and landscaper before he started making music.

But now he’ll be dishing out a gourmet meal and decadent dessert.

“This will be an interesting challenge. I’ve often joked over the years that I need to have a backup career plan in place so this is going to be good training,” Steele joked on Friday at the Making Sweet Memories announcement held at Bower Place Shopping Centre.

A silent auction and raffles will also be held as 10 celebrity waiters try to outdo each other and earn donation tips from guests.

Another celebrity waiter, Kim Bérubé, Real Woman Magazine president and managing editor, said Steele may pull in tips based on his musical reputation. But she knows her way around the dining room.

“I’ve been a waitress before, many times, so I’m totally going to kick some ass,” Bérubé said with a big grin.

“I’m going to win all the tips.”

Johnnie Bachusky, who earned the title of Canada’s Worst Handyman, will also be waiting tables.

The Red Deer and Central Alberta Chapter of the Alzheimer Society of Alberta and Northwest Territories is hosting the dinner at 6 p.m. at the Holiday Inn 67th Street to raise money for Alzheimer research.

The chapter wants to raise $30,000 this year for Canadian research.

“Research is more aggressive now than ever before. Baby boomers are now 60. We have an aging population and this is not just a disease of the elderly,” said Donna Durand, regional manager of the local Alzheimer chapter.

Alberta has the highest incidence of early onset Alzheimer disease, according to the Rising Tide study done by the Alzheimer Society.

Tickets for Making Sweet Memories are $75 each. Holiday Inn 67th Street is located at 6500 67th St.

For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Darlene Grasdal at the Alzheimer office at 403-346-2540.

szielinski@www.reddeeradvocate.com