The Chef’s Best Dinner and Auction was held at the Marriott Marquis Monday. The event serves as the annual signature fundraiser for Food & Friends, which received a $2M gift from Fleur, Sidney and Phyllis Bresler, and the Bresler Foundation Inc. Here, Food & Friends President of the Board David A. Berg and 2017 Chef’s Best Chef Chair, Top Chef star Marjorie Meek-Bradley.

The Bresler family was honored for its two decades of support for the organization. The multi-year gift is the largest in the organization’s history and will allow Food & Friends to vigorously invest in capacity for future growth, in order to meet the growing demand for its unique nutrition services. In addition to the Bresler family gift, the event helped raise more than $900K. Here, 2017 Chef’s Best Honoree Fleur Bresler, with Phyllis and Sidney Bresler.

Food & Friends provides medically specialized meals, groceries and nutrition counseling to D.C.-area residents living with serious illnesses, working to ensure that anyone who is critically ill has the nourishment they need to manage their illness. Here, Food & Friends board member Amy Meltzer of The Meltzer Group, winning in the event’s live auction.

In recognition of the Bresler family gift, Food & Friends’ facility at 219 Riggs Road NE will be named “The William P. Bresler Building” during a special ceremony this fall. William Bresler was Fleur’s son, Sidney’s brother and Phyllis’ brother-in-law. A chef trained at the Culinary Institute of America, Bill was a volunteer in the Food & Friends kitchen and later became a client of the organization. Bill died of AIDS in 2001 and the building will be named in his memory. Here, the chef participants at the 2017 Chef’s Best.