Thank You for Supporting the Relay For Life

( Margot, 2nd from right, and some of the ladies who supported us. Patty trying to coax Jeanette's daughter into the picture. )

In early Feburary with Foodies Giving Back I shared the story of my cancer fighting team of volunteers and fundraisers. We don’t rest on our laurels. No matter how successful we might have been we are always back in a new year with a new mission and goals at least as big.

We are underway with our fundraising and one this that is different this year from last, is that I will be using my blog an Twitter to solicit support from beyond my local area. The fight against cancer is important to everyone because cancer has or will affect everyone’s life directly or indirectly. That is a sad reality to grasp, but we are here, we are fighting, and we will win! We must have HOPE!

If you would like to support the fight against cancer with a 100% direct and tax-deductible donation please use the link below.

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY12NE?px=1344507&pg=personal&fr_id=39884 (2012 link, updated just in case people wander through. Please donate!)

We (Margot and I) held a wine tasting at our home last weekend to raise funds and thank many of our long time donors for their continued support. It is a causal affair, wine, snacks, some drawings for prizes and good conversation. We raised $800 through invitations and attendance at the event. If you attended and/or donated we thank you so much. If you haven’t donated yet, we hope you will consider it. As I told the assembled guests, we know where the money goes. We have met people who have benefited from the programs and services of the American Cancer Society right here where we live. We can see how the money we (you, us and everyone involved) raise reduces suffering and saves lives.

This year we were lucky enough to stumble on prizes that we wouldn’t have easily secured on our own. The folks from Our Cook Quest arranged to the have prizes from their recipe contest that didn’t draw enough participation to complete. We added a bottle of our Strawberry wine into the mix and we were off!

I find myself at a low point with the availability of homemade red wine so it was also a stroke of luck that Dave & Robyn, new winemaking friends of ours, are primarily red drinkers and had 3 styles to share with us. I was so excited to showcase someone else’s wine at our event as well. And from the feedback and my own tastings the Shiraz and Dolcetto were excellent examples of their styles and very pleasing to drink. Thanks Dave & Robin!

We opened bottles of our Strawberry, Unoaked Chardonnay, Viognier, Dandelion, Jalapeno, Riesling Ice Wine and Pinot Grigio. We also had a bottle of our Amarone (red) to put out.

For snacks we went with primarily heat-and-serve, but I did make the Cheese Straws again. Grafton Village Cheese picked up the tweets and the recipe is making the rounds through their fans as we speak. We also put out veggies and cheese & crackers. Our friend Amy tackled the sweet angle with thumbprint Russian Teacakes with raspberry jam in the middle. They were so good!!

Drawing Winners

Fine Cooking Grill It! & Pasta Fresca – Missy G

Ancient Fire Strawberry Wine – Amy & Brian W

Fine Cooking Breakfast & Cuccina Rustica - @eatingwmeaning

Amanda Hesser NY Times Cookbook - Amy & Brian W

In The Kitchen With A Good Appetite – Cyndi M

Fine Cooking Soups and Sandwiches, Cuccina Fresca & 15 Minute Meals – Robyn D

Much thanks to Our Cook Quest and the supporting sponsors for the prizes. They definitely attracted some attention and were a nice spin for this year’s event.

Will the Survivors Rule! team eclipse $10,000 again this year? I don't know. I never do, and then something happens and we seemed to get there. I do know that to reach that goal takes support from lots of people, including you. Thank you for supporting us.

Sadly 1 in 2 people will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. I would like to say that the work we all do today will radically change that, but I can’t stop long enough to figure that out. This battle rages on and we need your help.

Cheers!

Jason