Sandy Relief Fund to Benefit From Saturday’s Westchester Wine Experience
If you like to sample good wine and good food, Pace University is the place to be on Saturday.
The Pleasantville Rotary’s 13th annual Westchester Wine Experience will take place on March 23 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Kessel Student Center on the university’s Pleasantville campus.
While the event always promises a good time and raises money for important local and international charities, this year the effort hits closer to home. Rotary District 7230, which includes all local Rotary clubs in Westchester, the Bronx, Manhattan, Staten Island and Bermuda, is raising money to help locations devastated by Hurricane Sandy last fall, said Susan Fasnacht, Pleasantville Rotary’s chairperson for the event.
The main portion of the club’s proceeds raised at this weekend’s Westchester Wine Experience will be donated to the district’s Sandy Relief Fund.
“It’s to try and help those areas that were hit hard by the hurricane and we’re all trying to raise the money and help these people as quickly as possible,” Fasnacht said.
Janet DiBenidetto, involved in coordinating the Pleasantville Rotary’s relief fund efforts, said it may be nearly five months since the super storm roared ashore but large portions of Staten Island are still reeling from the disaster as well as some neighborhoods in lower Manhattan. Each Rotary must have its members approve the charities that receive donations, but there was no hesitation in Pleasantville, DiBenidetto said.
“It’s just unbelievable that this could happen and this is New York,” she said of the damage the storm caused.
Raising money to help charities is nothing new for the Pleasantville Rotary. The Westchester Wine Experience alone, which is the chapter’s biggest event of the year, has raised more than $170,000 for a wide assortment of causes and organizations over its first 12 years.
Today, the Wine Experience has never been bigger. Last year more than 300 people attended bringing in more than $12,000.
Visitors will be treated to food from more than two dozen restaurants and food purveyors and 25 wineries, plus Captain Lawrence Brewery, Fasnacht said. Most of the restaurants are from central and northern Westchester, such as Iron Horse Grill, Crabtree’s Kittle House and Peter Pratt’s but there are always new restaurateurs who come aboard.
DiBenidetto said a smaller portion of the money raised will benefit local charities. How much will go to the Sandy Relief Fund will not be determined until after the event, she said.
Tickets to the Westchester Wine Experience are $60 at the door. For more information on the list of restaurants, visit www.westchesterwineexperience.org.
The Westchester Wine Experience is sponsored by Pace University, Mahopac National Bank, Eventful Magazine, Westchester Magazine, The Examiner and WFAS.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
