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| The Central Avenue Business Improvement District created an entry for this year's Home Sweet Gingerbread Home Contest. Our "CBID Sweet-scape" is more like sculpture with architectural elements, but we tried! For more photos of our construction, look here. |
The contest will include houses from 15 different businesses and not-for-profits, the most in the contest's seven year history. "This is the largest amount of entries we've ever had," says Maria Grillo, Program Coordinator for Homeless and Travelers Aid Society (HATAS). "We're pretty excited."
The first portion of the contest will begin tomorrow November 10, when the public is invited to view the entries and vote for their favorite. The entries will be on display at Crossgates Mall in front of the Apple Store from November 10-12. Ballots can be purchased for 50 cents.
Then, on November 17, the houses will be sold in a silent auction as part of HATAS's "Evening in Winter Wonderland Gala" at Taste, located in the Omni Plaza at 30 South Pearl Street in Albany. Tickets for the event can be purchased for $75.
All funds raised will be donated to HATAS's homelessness prevention programming in Albany County, which helps families help avoid eviction by stepping in to cover the arrears payments and providing case management to help stabilize them. The program will prevent many families from being evicted this winter--an immensely worthy cause.
"We're always looking for more builders," Grillo says. To find out more about how to enter next year's contest or attend the gala, contact her at mgrillo@hatas.org
