SALISBURY, Md. - Local philanthropist Mitzi Perdue hosted a high dollar dinner with the proceeds going to Ukraine. The dinner was auctioned off at a two day conference called 'Elevate' about a month ago. The winning bid of $220,000 will go towards training people about landmine clearing in the war-torn country.
Perdue was rather surprised to see such a high bid for the dinner,
"I was hoping it would get all the way to $1,000 for land mine clearance and the auction began. It started at $1,000. I'm so happy I'm thinking *shrieks*, but then it went from increments of a thousand to $10,000..."
Eight guests arrived at Perdue's Salisbury apartment for this one-of-a-kind meal. The meal was prepared with the war in Ukraine in mind,
"If we ruin the land, we will over fish the sea. Which in the long run will create a situation of starvation." said Chef Tanika Rohadfox.
The meal consisted of ingredients that are plentiful in supply across the world to reinforce that message, along with hand painted Ukrainian cookies for dessert.
Dave Zook was one of the eight attendees. He says Perdue's stories inspired him to buy into the unique dinner,
"It's always better when you hear it from somebody that's been on the ground and been a part of what was going on and some of the stories coming out of there was heartbreaking. So it's one of my missions to make an impact..."
Perdue's endeavors to help the fight in Ukraine started when she sold her historic emerald engagement ring. She tells me the funds raised from auctioning that off led to more training for clearing landmines spread by Russia and more police patrol boats.
However Perdue says her help for the people of Ukraine won't end here,
"Mother Theresa said, 'The good that we can do we must do.' and I think that makes sense.
Mitzi Perdue continues to collect donations for landmine training at the website here.