25th Annual Festival of Chefs
Benefits Easter Seals South Florida Culinary Arts High School
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
VIP Admission – 6:30 p.m.
General Admission – 7:30 p.m.
Comber Hall
1251 Palermo Avenue, Coral Gables
305-777-6835 (Nanette Molina)
NMolina@SFlEasterSeals.com
Easter Seals South Florida’s 25th Annual Festival of Chefs – “Where Culinary & Fine Arts Meet” – is one of South Florida’s longest-standing food and wine charity events. The 25th anniversary festival will be held on November 6 at Comber Hall, a historic landmark in Coral Gables.
Easter Seals will welcome the Food Network’s host of “Simply Delicioso” and the creator of the brand “Delicioso” for Univision, Chef Ingrid Hoffmann, as a special celebrity guest at the Festival of Chefs. She will be joined by Event Chef Chair, John Richards, founding director of the Miami Culinary Institute at Miami Dade College. Serving as Chairman of the event is Shelley Daniel Rutherford.
The Festival of Chefs event clearly features the finest wines and dishes from Miami’s top restaurants. In addition to a fabulous multi-course feast, guests will enjoy sampling wines and spirits from the world’s finest producers, courtesy of Southern Wine & Spirits. An important enhancement to the culinary focus of the event are the amazing silent and live auctions, featuring fine art, jewelry, fine wines, dining and travel packages and more. Proceeds from the auctions also will benefit Easter Seals South Florida’s Culinary Arts High School, a vocational training program for students ages 16 through 22 with Autism and other disabilities.
An hour before the main event opens, there will be a VIP “Meet the Chefs Reception” introducing celebrity chef Ingrid Hoffmann. The reception will offer guests a sneak peek into the restaurants, chefs and auction items, and each person will receive a gift bag from the event sponsors. A limited number of VIP tickets are available.
General admission tickets are $100, and VIP tickets, which must be purchased in advance, are $150. Additionally, there is a wide range of sponsorship opportunities available for Festival of Chefs. For more information, contact Nanette Molina, Director of Special Events & Marketing, at 305-777-6835 or by email at NMolina@SFlEasterSeals.com.
About Easter Seals South Florida
What began in 1942 as a single classroom in a Miami church basement for children with polio who were not allowed to attend the public schools, now serves more than 2,000 children, adults, and their families annually in the ten sites throughout Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. Our services focus on the individual and the family unit to meet the unique needs of those we serve.
Current programs include:
Education and Therapy for Children and Youth:
Specialized occupational speech, and physical therapy for children with disabilities (ages 8 weeks to 12 years old); quality child care for 60 children with special needs (ages 8 weeks to 3 years); 6 Head Start Centers providing quality early childhood education, behavior and family support for 480 low income children (ages 8 weeks to 5 years); after-school services for 150 youth with special needs; plus a summer day camp for 100 preschoolers, elementary, and high school students with autism and other disabilities.
Autism Focused Services:
Year round quality elementary and middle school education for children with autism; low student teacher ratios, and hands-on learning with Board Certified Behavior Analysts and special education teachers.
Adult Day Services for Alzheimer’s:
Three therapeutic adult day care centers located in Miami, Hialeah and Pembroke Pines serving 400 adults with Alzheimer’s and other memory disorders; case management, caregiver support groups, and transportation also provided; in-home respite services support an additional 200 caregivers in Miami- Dade and Broward County.
Vocational Training and Support:
A culinary arts training program for 35-40 young adults with autism and other disabilities, ages 16-22; vocational evaluation and support services to nearly 200 youth and adults with disabilities.
State and local fee for service contracts fund less than 75% of the actual cost to provide these comprehensive services to our children and families with disabilities. We rely on grants and fundraising to cover the gap. Year after year, costs increase, public funding decreases, but community needs grow. A gift in the amount of $10,000 will help make our mission come alive for children and adults with disabilities who count on Easter Seals.
