On April 30th, we were proud to sponsor the Fort Lee Rotary Club’s annual Food Festival. Benzel-Busch always looks to resources that have the greatest local impact, and the Rotary Club is an organization dedicated entirely to encouraging and fostering service in the community.
For this year’s Food Festival, the Rotary Club enlisted 25 partners—including restaurants, cafes and other local businesses—to showcase their signature food dishes at the Double Tree Hotel in Fort Lee. The purpose of the Food Festival was twofold: create exposure for local businesses and raise money for The Gift of Life.
The Gift of Life is an international organization that helps secure heart surgeries for children from third world countries. For years, members of the Fort Lee Rotary have both raised the money that make these surgeries possible and have opened their homes to mothers and children traveling from all over the world (including the Ukraine, Poland, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic).
Over a combined four years, the Fort Lee Rotary Club’s Food Festival has raised $45,000 for The Gift of Life. Though the total has not yet been tallied, this year’s event promises to be a great success as well. More than 200 people came out on the 30th, paying $55 per ticket (in advance) or $65 per ticket at the door. And an additional 65 local businesses, including nail salons and florists, donated baskets and gift certificates for the event’s ticket raffle.
All in all, the Food Festival was fantastic success at helping local businesses and contributing to saving lives abroad.
For more information on the Fort Lee Rotary Club, or on Rotary International, please visit http://www.fortleerotary.com/