Apollo’s Steakhouse in downtown Washington held a celebrity-chef fundraiser Tuesday for Ruth’s House.

Owner Angel Borg brought Chef Larry Picard back into the kitchen as her first celebrity chef for the fundraiser. Picard is the former proprietor of Riverwalk Steaks and came out of retirement to assist in the fundraising efforts.  Picard closed his steakhouse in 2010.

The idea for the fundraiser was Borg’s. She wanted to come up with an idea to do something for Ruth’s House and has held other similar fundraisers in the past.

Ruth’s House is a Beaufort County nonprofit that helps to educate the community about family violence.

“It’s a win-win for everyone,” Borg said. “It’s a win for Ruth’s House, Apollo’s and Larry.”

Picard, who has Luekemia, wanted to help Borg out with the fundraiser in any way he could. Borg offered to pay Picard for his work in the kitchen Tuesday, but he told her to donate that money to Ruth’s House.

“I told Angel I will come down here to donate my time for Ruth’s House,” Picard said. “I am not doing this for money.”

Tuesday may be the last time Picard will be in the kitchen because of his health, he said.

“I enjoy it, but we’ll see how it goes,” Picard said. “It not all exactly how I used to do it because of certain preparations and I couldn’t get it exactly the way I used do it.”

Apollo’s raised $230 in food sales and received another $200 from a customer Tuesday. Borg plans to present Ruth’s House with a check at their Our Amazing Race fundraiser. The $230 donated from the fundraiser was 10 percent of the food sales.

Borg hopes to continue to have a guest chef event all summer long featuring local celebrities. One Borg’s goals is to have Mayor Mac Hodges as one of the Tuesday guest chefs.

“We’re still looking for volunteers to continue this,” Borg said. “People in high-profile places and we may even do a Commissioners cook-off or something like that.”