HOME June-July 2010 : Page 34
Taste Of Home Brings Fun & Food For The Benefit Of Children
David Greenberg
Steak or pizza? Why not both, with a little Thai shrimp thrown in.
Scheduled for June 13 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the University of Florida Hilton, Taste of HOME, an idea originally conceived by Scott Costello, the publisher of HOME: Living in the Heart of Florida, will benefi t the Child Advocacy Center, Children’s Home Society of Florida and three charities designated by the Leadership Gainesville Class 35 – March of Dimes, Alachua County Public School Foundation and Girls to Young Ladies. The common theme in all the organizations is that all the funds raised will go to help the children of North Central Florida.
Kim Mitrook, Leadership Gainesville Alumni Association’s (LGSS) outgoing president, said that children are the right target audience for the Taste of HOME proceeds.
“LGAA always looks for education and children’s projects,” Mitrook said. “In past years we have always supported childrelated organizations. Causes for children always present the greatest need. They are the people in our community who don’t have a voice. Working with A Taste of HOME will help us provide that voice. Every year, the graduating class of Leadership Gainesville chooses an event to support. This year, LG 35 chose to get on board with Taste of HOME to help make it a success.
Taste of HOME is the brainchild of HOME publisher Scott Costello. The planning for this event began about three years ago – around the same time HOME: Living in the Heart of Florida was introduced.
“The concept of HOME was to create a publication that could share the stories of individuals, businesses and nonprofi ts dedicated to improving our community and giving us the reason why we call this area home,” “This event furthered the cause by allowing us to focus on non-profi ts dedicated to helping children in our community and improving their opportunity for a good, positive life.
“In a perfect world, children live in safe, nurturing environments,” Costello said. “But ours is not a perfect world.” It is a harsh reality that child abuse occurs all too frequently. The Child Advocacy Center focuses on protecting abused children and breaking the cycle of child abuse. The funds the Child Advocacy Center will receive from A Taste of HOME are a blessing, said Margot Wilder, the agency’s development coordinator.
“We had a fl ood in 2008 and had to move suddenly,” Wilder said. “We now have to pay rent that was unanticipated. Funds like this keep our doors open and our lights on, allowing us to provide services to abused children in our community. Scott is a member of our board, and that has been a gift. There has never been a question about what he and the magazine can do for us. It is exciting to be part of Taste of HOME because it is a new project, and we are helping to get it off the ground.” Children’s Home Society of Florida is one of the oldest private, not-for-profi t organizations in the state, and the organization’s Mid-Florida region covers 18 area counties. The organization deals with adoption services and abused or neglected children. The funds that Children’s Home Society of Florida will receive were unexpected when the agency prepared its current budget and will go to much-needed repairs in its facility.
“Our government contracts do not pay for these repairs. They only pay for direct services,” said Jennifer Anchors, executive director of the organization’s Mid-Florida region. “These proceeds will be of tremendous help to us. We work closely with HOME. We are very appreciative of Scott. He has always been generous with us. It was an honor to be selected as one of the charities for Taste of HOME.” The other three charities – March of Dimes, Alachua County Public School Foundation and Girls to Young Ladies – were selected by Leadership Gainesville Class 35, which graduated in May 2009. Leadership Gainesville is a yearlong community leadership program of the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce designed to identify, educate and develop leadership skills. The program’s principal goal is to build a resource of community leadership on a planned, continuing basis.
“This is their class project,” Mitrook said. “The year after the class graduates it always designates a project or charity to support, and no matter which class it is, the other classes all get involved. Since LG 35 chose A Taste of HOME and the class is passionate about this project, the LGAA is involved.” The event itself is expected to be spectacular. With Cox Communications serving as title sponsor, Keith Watson Productions producing and Shelley Meyer hosting, it has to be fi rst class. Attendees will be able to sample cuisine from the area’s fi nest restaurants. Of course, there will be a live and silent auction with some outstanding prizes. And with the June 13 date, it is just in time for one last great party before summer travel.
“As a fundraiser, I can say it is always hard the fi rst year,”
Mitrook said. “But there is already so much community involvement. Everywhere I go people are talking about A Taste of HOME.” Cox Communications immediately jumped at the opportunity to be the title sponsor.
“Cox understands the importance of giving back to the communities we serve and is always looking for opportunities to do so,” said Devon Chestnut, Cox’s public affairs specialist. “Taste of HOME provides just that – the opportunity to support charitable organizations that are vital to the well-being of our community. The organizations benefi ting from Taste of HOME provide children the essentials they need to grow up into self-supporting and contributing members of society. We are not only proud to support this event we are also honored to partner with other great organizations, such as HOME magazine, who share a similar philosophy regarding giving back to the community.” The owners of the participating restaurants also feel like this is a great combination of fun and festivity for a great cause.
“We have a strong belief that helping support and change our community is good business,” said June Allen, of Embers Wood Grill. “It’s part of our mission as a restaurant. We appreciate that Taste of HOME gives us an opportunity to do this.” Pete Zimek, from the Caffeine Bar at Ben & Jerry’s jumped at the opportunity.
“We wanted to support a new fundraiser, and we saw this as something that something that would help contribute to the Gainesville community for decades to come, much like Andy Sherard’s class did with the O2B a Kid Again event” Zimek said.
One of the other things that make this event special for the participants is the group of people being brought together.
“This is not just the Children's Home Society of Florida's Auxiliary,” Anchors said. “That group does a great job of putting on events and fundraisers for our organization. But A Taste of HOME brings together a group of people who have never been involved with us in the past.” Wilder says the group of participants is extraordinary.
“People are coming out of the woodwork,” she said. “The involvement of Leadership Gainesville is signifi cant because that means local business people are going into the community for support. It is an impressive and diverse group of people.” Anchors said she is not surprised by the response.
“If we don’t take responsibility for these children, who will?” she asked. “We have to be advocates for our children because they are the future of our community.”
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