Fundraising helps schools, Poncho, ‘The Hutch’ and SIFF | In Good Company | In Good Company | Rose Dennis
Published 11:08 am Monday, June 6, 2011
The Bellevue Schools Foundation Spring for Schools luncheon at Meydenbauer Center was packed May 26 with more than 1000 guests who gave $555,000 to support the Bellevue School District. This is extremely crucial as our state ranks 42nd in the country for per capita student spending. On the positive side, Bellevue high schools rank in the top 100 in the United States. One in three students in our district speaks a first language other than English, with over 83 languages being spoken. I admire those with the Bellevue Schools Foundation and the Bellevue School District for their continued hard work, leadership and vision, in making a child’s educational dream become a reality. www.bsfdn.org.
Poncho’s 20th International Wine Auction raised $800,000 for the arts in our community. Event Chair and Poncho Board Member, Tamara Wilson of Wilson Public Relations, expressed appreciation to the auction patrons. The evening went wild with patrons bidding on incredibly rare wine lots, along with once-in-a lifetime travel and wine experiences.www.poncho.org
Tamara Wilson
Rolan Wong for Team Photogenic © 2011
Over $518,000 was raised recently at the Fred Hutchinson 20th Anniversary Premier Chefs Dinner at Herban Feast. The featured Chefs were Kevin Davis, Blueacre Seafood and Steelhead Diner; Jason Franey, Canlis; Daisley Gordon, Campagne; Christine Keff, Flying Fish; Brian McCracken and Dana Tough, Spur Gastropub and Tavern Law; Scott Staples, Quinn’s and Zoë; and Johnathan Sundstrom, Lark.
The true highlight of the evening was meeting, tasting his creations, and later hearing the featured keynote speaker, Grant Achatz. Achatz is a molecular gastronomist; a James Beard Foundation’s Outstanding Chef for 2008; a restaurateur whose restaurant Alinea in Chicago was named “Best Restaurant in America” by Gourmet Magazine; and he is a cancer survivor.
He was diagnosed with stage IV cancer of the tongue, and had to start treatment immediately or he would die. After learning from doctors that he would have to have his tongue removed, he decided to go the clinical route with 20 weeks of aggressive chemotherapy and radiation. He lost the ability to taste, but is now cancer free and in remission. His new book that follows this adventure is appropriately titled, Life, on the Line. www.fhcrc.org
Chef Grant Achatz
Kim Doyel for Team Photogenic © 2011
SIFF, short for the Seattle International Film Festival, is close to having a permanent home located at Seattle Center. For the past three weeks, international films from around the world have been playing in Seattle, Kirkland and Bellevue. Recently, actor Tom Skerritt and his wife, Julie, Tokashiki hosted a private Friends of SIFF Club fundraiser to hear local philanthropist Barbara Malone announce that she was joining the SIFF club with her pledge to the group’s capital campaign. Malone encouraged everyone in attendance to join her in helping close out the remaining 20 percent of the campaign to raise $2.8 million for this project. A big thank you to all the movie buffs in our community who are making this exciting project come to fruition. www.siff.net
Barbara Malone
