Kiwanis Club plans annual wine, food-tasting event
Kiwanis Club of La Cañada Wine and Gourmet Committee members gathered last week at Descanso Gardens to finalize plans for the club’s Ninth Annual Wine and Gourmet Food Tasting Event. The event will be held on Sunday, Sept. 25, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at La Cañada Flintridge Memorial Park, 1301 Foothill Blvd. The evening also includes a premium wine silent auction conducted by the La Cañada Flintridge Educational Endowment Fund.
Attendance is expected to be close to 1,000. More than 25 restaurants, caterers and food specialty shops will serve tastes of their cuisine and wine purveyors will pour wines from around the world.
Tickets are $50 if purchased in advance, or $60 at the gate on the day of the event. The Wine and Gourmet event fund raiser is sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of La Cañada in partnership with the La Cañada Educational Foundation Endowment Fund, the La Cañada Flintridge Chamber of Commerce, the Verdugo Hills Foundation and Petit Vendome.
For more ticket information call Mary Gant at (818) 790-9901.
In other club news, the Kiwanians hosted KNBC news anchor Kathy Vara during their luncheon meeting last week. Club President Bill Watts presented Vara with a coffee mug and urged her to keep it on her desk when she was on the air. The day after her La Cañada experience, Vara told her television audience about her visit to the city and the time she spent with members of the local service club.
Young Republicans plan 9/11 Memorial Service
The Young Republicans of La Cañada Flintridge will lead the community in a memorial to the victims of 9/11 at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 11 in the courtyard of La Cañada Presbyterian Church, 626 Foothill Blvd.
Alexander Keledjian is president of the Young Republican Club, which is sponsored by the La Cañada Flintridge Republican Club.
Betty Monteleone will coordinate this memorial event. The event is nonpartisan, non-political and ecumenical.
The program will cap off a weekend of citywide events tied to the 91011 Zip Code celebration being sponsored by the city and chamber of commerce.
The Republican Club provides a leadership development program that includes organizational skills development for members of the youth group.
Glendale Kiwanians hold happy hour in La Cañada
Monica and Jose Sierra opened up their La Cañada Flintridge home for a recent Glendale Kiwanis Club’s Happy Hour.
Honored guests at the gathering were Michihiro Ohtomo and his wife Mayumi, from Japan. The Ohtomos were introduced and Michihiro spoke of how grateful his Kiwanis Club was to receive a check for nearly $11,000 for supplies to aid the children and the schools that were devastated by the March earthquake and following tsunami. The La Cañada Kiwanis Club also contributed approximately $1,500 toward this mission.
With these funds the Ohtomos were able to purchase much-needed supplies for the local schools, computers, and a van to transport the children to and from the schools.
Michihiro Ohtomo attended college at PCC and Cal State Northridge, where he became friends with Glendale Kiwanian Irshad Hague. After this year’s disastrous earthquake, Hague contacted Ohtomo to see how his club might be of help.
There were approximately 50 people present at the reception that included the Glendale Kiwanis Club President Bruce Hinckley and his wife Debbie, the Glendale club’s Lt. Governor Marko Swan and incoming Lt. Governor Cathy Keen and her husband Bob.
Also present was the incoming La Cañada AM Kiwanis Club President Tom Petersmeyer. Other La Cañada residents attending were Stephanie Cafiero and Blake Hyfield, Dr. Skip Neville, Page Whyte and Ron and Rosalie Youra.
—Jane Napier Neely