Food For The Poor’s Fine Wines & Hidden Treasure’s Gala to Bring Relief and Rebuild Haiti
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Feb. 3, 2010) – Palm Beach philanthropists Robert G. and Arlette Gordon (Honorary Chairpersons) joined Andres and Cathie Fanjul (Ball Chairpersons) and Paul Marino (Event Chairman) on stage at Food For The Poor’s seventh-annual Fine Wines & Hidden Treasures gala on Jan. 28 to urge friends and guests to send crucially needed relief supplies, and to help rebuild Haiti.
“The recent earthquake that devastated Haiti has left the people and the country in desperate need,” said Robert G. Gordon, Honorary Chairperson. “Food For The Poor has worked in Haiti for 25 years and they are committed to the recovery effort. Immediately following the earthquake, Food For The Poor was among the first organizations to serve warm meals and distribute emergency supplies. We want to encourage people to do what they can to help.”
Angel Aloma, Food For The Poor’s Executive Director, shared his journey to Haiti immediately after the devastating earthquake. “The living conditions they endured before the earthquake would test the strongest of souls, and now the situation is ten times worse – they need everything… they need healing… they need our love,” Aloma said.
“With the needs so great, we feel that Food For The Poor is the best way to get help to those in desperate need,” said Cathie Fanjul. “Food For The Poor is a good steward – with more than 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor.”
To support the cause, Ritz-Carlton Executive Chef Ryan Artim asked several of his longtime friends to reunite in the kitchen to create a five-course dinner that included such dishes as chilled Maine lobster with Florida citrus, herbed fennel salad and yuzu vinaigrette, allspice honey-glazed duck breast with caramelized foie gras, Maytag blue cheese-stuffed Seckel pear, butternut squash, ramp puree and almond brittle.
Guest chefs who prepared the culinary masterpieces included Luke Forzano, Executive Sous Chef, Encore Wynn Las Vegas; Rey Eugenio, Executive Chef Partner, Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine of Baltimore; Kenneth J. Gilbert, Capella Telluride/Inn at Lost Creek; and Mark Ainsworth, President/CEO, Pastry Smart LLC.
Food For The Poor’s gala began with a wine tasting reception and featured a silent auction, musical entertainment and dance performances. The event wine sponsors, Transatlantic Wine & Spirits and Dreyfus Ashby & Co., selected fine wines for the reception and dinner to enhance each course. Participating wineries include Joseph Drouhin of France and Miguel Torres of Spain.
Benefactors included Patrick Park and Natalie Fernandez, Mary Virginia Knight and Henry Fong, Helene and Stanley Karp, Howard and Michele Kessler, Palm Beach Prayer Team Ministries, Inc., Eleanor Reeves Foundation, Herme de Wyman Miro & The International Society of Palm Beach. Sponsors include Dreyfus, Ashby & Co., Florida Crystals, Frank Crystal & Company, Southern Wine & Spirits of South Florida, TD Bank, TerraGroup, Transatlantic Wine & Spirits, and American Nicaraguan Foundation.
Food For The Poor, the largest international relief and development organization in the nation, does much more than feed millions of hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean, Latin America, and the United States. This interdenominational Christian agency provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information please visit, FoodForThePoor.org/palmbeach
Jennifer Leigh Oates
Public Relations
(954) 427-2222, ext. 6054