``The 2010 Battle of the Bars''

Dear Friends and Supporters:

Our fundraising event at the Weymouth Elks on Sunday, February 21st - ``The 2010 Battle of the Bars'' was such an overwhelming success. It was a wonderful afternoon for everyone. We raised over $5,000 to be split between the Weymouth Food Pantry and Care Packs, which sends care packages to the troops.

We had 23 fantastic singers, which really entertained the sold-out crowd and it made it very hard on the judges not only to choose the top five but to select the winners. Congratulations to Angela Rossi, who was representing Finian's Restaurant in Quincy. Both of her songs knocked everybody out. Second place went to Terri Riley, who was representing the Cathay Center Restaurant in Weymouth, and third prize went to Kirsten Hughes, who represented the Common Market Restaurant in Quincy. The other top five were Paul ``Dr. Love'' Manning and Willie ``Doo Wop'' Baker. Any of the five finalists could have walked away with the top prize.

Many thanks to my fellow judges - Chet Curtis of NECN, radio sports personality Pete Sheppard and Weymouth Town Councilor Brian McDonald.

We are also grateful to Susie Chu of the Cathay Center for supplying the food. Susie was a great friend to our event and really stepped up beyond our wildest expectations to help us.

We appreciate, too, all the assistance we received from the Weymouth Elks.

Are there aspects of the event we would do differently? No doubt. But given that it was our first time and that we pulled it together in just eight weeks, we are grateful for the singers, for the crowd and for the fact we raised over $5,000 for two worthy charities.

Thanks to everyone who participated. We plan to start thinking about the next event as soon as we catch up on our sleep!

All the best, Nancy Marrapese-Burrell