As a nation, we are obsessed with food. Doubters need look no farther than the immense popularity of televised cooking shows for proof.

As Southerners, we are passionate about barbecue, as evidenced by the number of vehicles parked at hole-in-the-wall 'cue joints across the South.

Given an obsession with food and a passion for barbecue, what better recipe for a destination tourist event than a nationally recognized cooking competition?

Cumming got its first taste of the National BBQ Cup: Que'n in Cumming earlier this month, and it was enough to leave mouths watering for more.

Designing Dreams, an interior design nonprofit, dedicated a $20,000 room makeover to the Bald Ridge Lodge, a center for high-risk teenage boys located in Forsyth County, at a fundraiser held at Milton’s Cuisine and Cocktails on Aug. 18.

Allison Havill Todd got inspiration for this nonprofit overnight and brought this idea to life in 2009. “Interior space has an overall affect on a person or family’s well-being,” said Havill Todd, an interior designer and owner of Allison Havill Todd Interiors based in Cumming. “In a time when families were going through a difficult time, it became an opportunity to do something positive.”

Designing Dreams, an interior design nonprofit, dedicated a $20,000 room makeover to the Bald Ridge Lodge, a center for high-risk teenage boys located in Forsyth County, at a fundraiser held at Milton’s Cuisine and Cocktails on Aug. 18.

Project will 'benefit a lot of people'

A Cumming facility for displaced boys soon will feel more like a true home.

The Bald Ridge Lodge was recently named the recipient of a room makeover from Allison Havill Todd Interiors, a Forsyth County interior design firm.

Owner Allison Havill Todd said judges chose the boys' home because they felt the room makeover could "truly make a difference for the group of young boys who call this home."