Oh what a night! 1st Annual Wine into Water Benefit is a HUGE success

Something must be wonderfully right when practically the entire club membership (30+ people) pull together to create a completely new concept for a Rotary Club fundraiser.

The 1^st Annual Wine into Water Benefit for the Rotary Club of Millcreek was a true group effort with members buying all the wine (with subsidiaries from Utah wineries: Kiler Grove and Castle Creek), providing all the amazing delicious and apparently endless appetizers, contributing tables, chairs, musical entertainment, sommeliers, tablecloths, centerpieces, signage, printing, inviting nearly 100 people, and contributing a combined hundreds of volunteer hours to raise over $5,000 on one beautiful evening at the club president’s home.

 As one seasoned Rotarian said, “This is the most organized and fun event I’ve ever been to in Rotary.” And successful, too.

Since members covered every single cost, 100% of the proceeds can go directly to club projects such as the funding of two water filtration systems in impoverished villages in Peru. .. except for the $1,000 Grand Prize, won this year by a Millcreek member guest, Nadine Bone.

The fundraiser was also an opportunity drawing for that significant award, and many other great gifts, all donated by members: Verizon products (thanks, Jennie Ferguson), Ruth Chris gift certificate, Color or Cut at Steur & Friends (by our own Annie Cononelos), BBQ sauce basket, and a two night stay in a Kimball Junction condo donated by our own Shannon Tilly.

There are so many people to thank for this incredible event:

·        Club President Laurie Summers-Pisani for letting us use your beautiful home and backyard! I hope there wasn’t too much mess when we all left!
All the members who came early to help set up and stayed late to clean up, including Youthlinc Alum Leaders Ryan David, Isaac Puriri, Jaclyn Bawden, and Real Life in SLC intern Megan Dolle.

·        All the members who brought substantial appetizers – Many brought appetizers and they weren’t even assigned to bring them!

·        Thanks Ladd Tanner for the Dodo contributions and thanks Kevin Jones for Snap Daddy contributions.

·        Miriam Kramer for bringing tables and chairs, and with the help of other members, getting them all out of there! Julie Bateman for donating the tables, and Mustafa Celebi for the tablecloths.

·        Frank Lilly, John Zone, Ryan Van Dyke for supplying wine (Ryan’s own homemade wine was delicious!)

·        Pablo Fiesta for bringing some bubbly non-alcoholic beverages, and for buying so many tickets!

·        Janey Lyon for her lovely guitar music and her beautiful voice.

·        Margareta Vlasic for making and bringing our name tags.

·        Past District Governor Rick Cambra and Park City Sunrise Rotarian and Assistant District Governor, Derick Loyola, for helping with sommelier duty.

·        Frank Lilly for making our Peru posters and Laurie for all the printing.

·        Club members also pulled together to pay for our new club banner and our Wine into Water Benefit sign. We’ll have those for years to come.

So if you missed the event this year, watch for it next year in September. And if you want to see this ‘unstructured’ club in action, come visit us 1^st and 2^nd Thursdays of each month, 5:30pm, at Café Madrid on Highland Drive.  We are a great group. We’d love you to be part of us. We know how to make service fun.