On Friday, September 27 from 4 to 7pm, Friends of the Women’s Center—an NC State Foundation Fund—presented the 10th Annual Chocolate Festival. Four members of the Raleigh/Wake branch of AAUW were there: Barbara Ann Hughes, president; Denny McGuire, state treasurer; Terry Wall, membership; and Janet Weber, branch treasurer.

Chocolate flowed freely from a fountain and tables were lined with samples of truffles, decadent chocolate cakes and raspberry cream cradled by a shell of melt-in-your mouth milk chocolate.

The Chocolate Festival isn’t just about chocolate, however. It’s also about women—especially safeguarding women’s health with early detection of breast cancer. Attendees were provided with information about resources for women, including especially the prevention and treatment of breast cancer. AAUW was there not only in support of women’s health, but also to promote the optimal development of women all over the globe!

Festival guests were promised they could:

• Learn more about breast cancer and other’s women’s issues. (Our literature addressed the salary gap and the presence of women in math and science careers.)
• Find a special gift for someone at the silent auction
• Purchase—and eat—quality chocolate from some of the Triangle’s finest vendors.

We happily informed undergraduates that their campus Women’s Center is a university affiliate of AAUW.  That means they enjoy free membership and get all the benefits thereof simply by staying in touch with educational exhibits and programs at the campus center.  

Advanced undergraduates and graduate students eagerly accepted our brochures about the Grants and Fellowships that are available on a competitive basis every year.  We invited faculty and staff to either affiliate with the center or come to our meetings on third Tuesdays at the Center for Community Leadership.  Several people signed up to get our emailed invitations to future meetings. On the whole, we were very glad we participated and will do so again in the future.

The annual Chocolate Festival is a fund-raiser for the NC State Women’s Center with a portion of the proceeds going to Breast Cancer Education and the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund.