York Technical College's Baxter M. Hood Center (South Carolina) was jam-packed with people last Sunday afternoon to celebrate Keystone Substance Abuse Services' third annual Decadent Dreams Chocolate Festival.

With tickets on hand, people could purchase samples of cookies, cupcakes, and truffles,  among many others. They even offered a trip to a tall chocolate fountain. Additionally, they were able to stop over at a chocolate spa and get pampered with a massage using chocolate cake-scented oil.

Those people didn’t only get to satisfy their sweet-tooth cravings but were also able to help a cause. The affair is a fundraiser for the non-profit Keystone, which offers treatment and prevention services for substance abuse in York County.

Monica Hanna, head of marketing and events for Keystone, said the festival has captivated about 800 people and made about $10,000 in the past two years and looked forward to a much better outcome this year. It involved three times as many vendors and had at least 1,000 visitors. Among the list of vendors are Periwinkle Café and Bakery, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and Jazzy Cheesecake Company. The chocolate festival is two-fold, said Hanna. "It's chocolate, but you're helping a good cause," she said.

Like most nonprofits, Keystone has been affected by the poor economy. Some two years back, they thought of potential fundraisers to catch the attention of people, and they immediately leaned towards chocolate.

"Who doesn't love chocolate?" asked one of the attendees, Holly Winn. "And it's a great cause." One of Winn’s children, whom she brought along with her to the event, was a judge for the cupcake wars that afternoon. Just last year, she won the said contest herself with her own homemade chocolate chip cupcake. According to her, the perfect cupcake would taste like a brownie with nuts and some type of filling.

It’s just good to know that participating in this kind of events, you are enjoying yourself in a not-so-selfish way.

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Joanna Maligaya

Staff Writer/Content Developer at Chocolate University Online

Ever since she can remember, Joanna has always considered chocolate as the ultimate food for her soul. She believes in the saying, “9 out of 10 people love chocolate, and the 10th always lies.”

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