A Night to Remember

This past Saturday, the community came together for Men & Women Who Cook, the Splendora ISD Education Foundation’s signature fall fundraiser. The evening featured great food, friendly competition, and neighbors supporting our students.

This year’s event and venue were the best yet. From the moment guests walked in, the room was buzzing with energy, laughter, and the smell of good cooking.

These photos are just a few highlights from the night! We’ll add more photos to this post over the next few days, so check back soon for more fun.

The Chefs Brought Their A-Game

The heart of Men & Women Who Cook is our chef teams. Local cooks, businesses, and friends of the Foundation planned menus, bought ingredients, set up their stations, and served guests all night long.

Each team put in hours of work and their own resources, and it showed in every bite. Guests made the rounds, sampled dishes, and cheered on their favorites. The team spirit at every station made the night feel like one big community celebration.

Congratulations to this year’s chef team winners! Mischievous Marauders had a big night, taking home Best Beverage, Best Innovation, and Best Theme. Team Dietrich/Key earned both Best Appetizer and Best Spirit. Saddle Up won Best Entree, and Nuts, Nanners & Bad Manners took Best Dessert. Thank you to every team for the creativity, flavor, and fun you brought to the night. You made the competition tough and the evening unforgettable!

More Than a Meal: Your Impact

Together, we raised approximately $34,000 for Splendora ISD students.

Every dollar goes directly to grants, scholarships, and educational opportunities for the more than 5,900 students in Splendora ISD. Over 60% of our students come from economically disadvantaged homes, so community support opens doors they might not otherwise have. When you bought a ticket, joined a chef team, or sponsored the event, you invested in their future.

The evening also debuted our new teacher grant video, featuring Peach Creek Elementary fourth-grade teacher Joanna Muirhead. Joanna shares why applying for a Foundation grant mattered so much and what it meant to her students when the Foundation funded her project.

Her grant, Cultivating Curiosity, created an outdoor garden learning space where every student gets hands-on science lessons. In the garden, students explore how energy flows through food webs, why Earth’s renewable resources matter, the Sun’s role, and how water moves across Earth’s surface. It’s a perfect example of what your support makes possible: learning students can see, touch, and grow.

Watch the teacher grant video here.

Thank You

An event like this takes a whole community. Our heartfelt thanks go to:

• Our sponsors, whose generosity made the evening possible
• Our chef teams, who cooked their hearts out for our students
• Our volunteers and set-up crew, who kept everything running smoothly from start to finish
• Our board members, who worked behind the scenes and showed up in force
• Everyone who attended, because your presence and support mean the world to our kids

See You Next Year!

We’re already looking forward to the next Men & Women Who Cook. Thank you for helping us connect community generosity with educational opportunities for every Splendora ISD student.