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Care home managing director competes in charity cook off
Staff and residents at Lucerne House care home in Exeter are celebrating because their wonderful Managing Director, Natasha Lazovic, from Barchester’s South Division, has stepped completely out of her comfort zone to compete in the Barchester Charitable Foundation Cook Off 2024.
Natasha went head to head with the Managing Directors from Barchester’s four other divisions and cooked up a storm to raise a phenomenal £24,595 for Barchester’s Charitable Foundation which helps connect vulnerable people and those living with a disability to community groups in their local area by providing grants to improve mobility and quality of life. Each year the Foundation distributes thousands of pounds to individuals, small community groups and charities across England, Scotland and Wales. In 2023 the Foundation achieved a donation milestone of £225,000 which enabled the charity to provide vital help to 160 small groups and charities, plus 87 individuals in one year alone.
Natasha made some fabulous dishes for her Cook Off Challenge, first she prepared Roast Chicken Breast with smoked bacon mash and a wild mushroom veloute sauce before she moved on to her Sticky Date and Ginger Sponge with caramel sauce both of which were very well received by the judging panel made up members of Barchester’s Executive team. She was pipped at the post but highly commended by the judges none the less and her division raised the most amount of money for the Foundation, an impressive £11,595.
General Manager of Lucerne House care home, Sally Coletti, said: “We are all so proud of Natasha for taking part in this challenge, she really is amazing – is there nothing she can’t do! Her dishes looked absolutely fantastic and she raised so much for the Foundation, we think she is an absolute super star!