The Capital Area Food Bank (CAFB) has increased its fundraising goal for the 14th Annual Blue Jeans Ball to $500,000—enough to provide 1.25 million meals to those in need around metropolitan Washington. Following its recent move to stop accepting junk food donations, the CAFB received national praise among leading voices in the fight against hunger, resulting in record levels of pre-event exposure and sponsorship. Consequently, the organization is introducing new elements at this year’s gala celebration, slated for Sunday, April 23, with the goal of funding more nutritious meals than ever before.
New food and drink:
- New restaurants serving 40+ savory and sweet bites include Colada Shop (“Little Havana Done Right” – Washington Post), Arroz by Mike Isabella, Pub and the People
- Mixology Chair Gina Chersevani, Buffalo & Bergen, to pour specialty cocktail
- Chef Chair Ryan Ratino, Ripple to feature kampachi crudo with uni botarga and leche de tigre mousse
New entertainment:
- New Orleans-style band Dupont Brass will entertain throughout the evening
- Unique bottles from outstanding distilleries will be offered at a special “Spirits Pull,” where a $35 donation offers guests the chance to take home a bottle of prized liquor
New auction items:
- One week’s stay at an 18th century farmhouse in Umbria, Italy
- Tour for 20 of BrightFarms’ hydroponic greenhouse, with catered lunch and as many greens as you can carry
- Austin, Texas dream trip: 7 days for four guests with live music, famous Austin dining, and much more
- Tickets to the 117th U.S. Open golf tournament, with hospitality included
As always, guests arrive in their most fashionable denim and taste to their hearts’ content. Each ticket to the Blue Jeans Ball provides 500 life-changing meals for people in need in our area, and can be purchased at capitalareafoodbank.org/blue-jeans-ball/.
When: Sunday, April 23, 2017
5 pm: VIP reception
6 pm: Tastings, cocktails and silent auction
8 pm: Program & live auction
Where: Marriott Marquis Hotel
901 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20001
Hotel valet parking available for a fee
Why: The Capital Area Food Bank is the largest organization in the Washington metro area working to solve hunger and its companion problems: chronic undernutrition, heart disease and obesity. By partnering with nearly 450 community organizations in DC, Maryland and Virginia, as well as delivering food directly in hard to reach areas, the CAFB is helping 540,000 people each year get access to good, healthy food. That’s 12 percent of our region’s mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, and grandparents. Visit: capitalareafoodbank.org, facebook.com/CapitalAreaFoodBank, and Twitter at @foodbankmetrodc.
Meet Lisa Messerschmidt, whose life was changed by the Blue Jeans Ball. With a parent who needed care and no sibling to rely on for help, she had to leave work and rely on her husband’s salary alone. When he then lost his job due to the government shutdown, they couldn’t pay their bills, had their car repossessed, and their credit crashed. Lisa spent the next couple of years at the mercy of others, at times living without heat, running water, medical care, or, very often, food.
Enter her neighborhood nonprofit, supplied with food by the Capital Area Food Bank. They provided her family with the training and resources needed to get back on their feet – starting with vegetables, fruit and other ingredients to cook with. In Lisa’s words, “having food on the table made everything else seem possible.” The Capital Area Food Bank helped to turn crisis into stability for her family, and by attending this year’s Blue Jeans Ball, guests can do the same for others.
Each ticket to the Blue Jeans Ball provides 500 life-changing meals for people in need in our area. Today, Lisa works for the food bank, helping distribute food made possible by the Blue Jeans Ball.
When: Sunday, April 23, 2017
5 pm: VIP reception
6 pm: Tastings, cocktails and silent auction
8 pm: Program & live auction
Where: Marriott Marquis Hotel
901 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001
Hotel valet parking available for a fee
What: 40+ savory and sweet tasting stations from Oyamel, The Palm, Ripple, Occidental and more…Made-to-order cocktails from Mixology Chairs Gina Chersevani (Buffalo & Bergen) & Eddie Kim (Bar Dupont)…and the Washington Redskins Foundation has joined this year’s effort to end childhood hunger!
How: Ticket details available at capitalareafoodbank.org/blue-jeans-ball/; as always, guests arrive in their most fashionable denim and taste to their hearts’ content!
About: The Capital Area Food Bank is the largest organization in the Washington metro area working to solve hunger and its companion problems: chronic undernutrition, heart disease and obesity. By partnering with nearly 450 community organizations in DC, Maryland and Virginia, as well as delivering food directly in hard to reach areas, the CAFB is helping 540,000 people each year get access to good, healthy food. That’s 12 percent of our region’s mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, and grandparents. Visit: capitalareafoodbank.org, facebook.com/CapitalAreaFoodBank, and Twitter at @foodbankmetrodc.
Shaw Main Streets will host its annual Taste of Shaw Gala on Tuesday April 25, 2017, from 7pm to 9pm. The annual event celebrates the neighborhood’s diverse businesses and residents, and is a fundraiser for initiatives that enhance and promote commerce within the Shaw neighborhood. DC’s beloved Howard Theatre will be the backdrop for live music and libations and delicious bites from some of DC’s best bars and restaurants. Proceeds from the event support Shaw Main Streets’ economic revitalization and historic preservation activities in the Shaw neighborhood of DC, which have helped bring about the transformation of central Shaw since 2003. This year’s hashtag, #LoveShaw, represents the comradery of Shaw’s business owners and the citywide support and accolades the neighborhood continues to receive. From Michelin stars to Rammy nominations and stellar reviews, Shaw’s bars and restaurants continue to help raise the Shaw neighborhood’s profile locally and nationally.
A hospitality renaissance led by top chefs and mixologists has been under way in recent years, bringing fresh concepts and perspectives in cuisine and beverage, as well as a host of new talent, making Shaw the city’s top dining and imbibing destination. Recent openings such as the neighborhood craft cocktail bar Service Bar DC (a new take on the local watering hole from veteran bartenders Chad Spangler and Glendon Hartley), the Chinese-French concept Kyirisan from husband and wife team Tim and Joey Ma, and neighborhood anchors such as The Passenger, DC’s favorite industry bar, and Convivial, which was one of 2015’s opening highlights; will be among the many participants in the annual Shaw Main Streets Gala. Shaw Main Streets invites the entire region to explore some of the best of the neighborhood has to offer at one venue, on one special evening.
Guests can expect a festive atmosphere, open beer and wine bar, and unlimited cuisine and cocktails from a Taste of Shaw’s stellar host committee of chefs, restaurateurs, and mixologists. Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen will receive the 2017 Shaw Champion Award, chosen by the Board of Directors of Shaw Main Streets for his consistent support of economic revitalization in Shaw and SMS’ efforts to create the thriving community that Shaw is today. Appearances by Mayor Bowser and other public officials are also slated.
The 2017 Taste of Shaw host committee includes the following bars and restaurants:
The Brixton Buttercream Bakeshop Cava
Convivial Dacha Dino’s Grotto
The Tavern at Henley Park Eat the Rich El Rey
Etete French Quarter Brasserie Haikan
Half Smoke Kyirisian La Jambe
The Passenger Service Bar Seylou
Southern Efficiency Tiger Fork
Advance tickets are $80 and can be ordered online at www.smsgala17.eventbrite.com. On the day of the event, tickets will be $100. Tickets include unlimited food and cocktail tastings, beer and wine, and complimentary valet parking.
The Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation’s (ADDF) Seventh Annual Great Ladies Luncheon &
Fashion Show will be held in partnership with Neiman Marcus Mazza Gallerie. All proceeds benefit the ADDF and
its mission to find effective treatments for Alzheimer’s and related dementias. The event opens with a morning
presentation, “The Symposium to Conquer Alzheimer’s.” After the scientific presentation, guests enjoy lunch
followed by a runway show featuring the Fall 2017 Collection of Brunello Cucinelli.
WHO: Leonard A. Lauder will welcome guests to the luncheon. The morning’s presentation will be given by
ADDF neuroscientists Howard Fillit, MD, and Penny Dacks, PhD, with an introduction by Andrea Mitchell.
Sally Quinn is the Honoree and other guests scheduled to attend include the event’s Founding Executive Chairs
Elise and Marc Lefkowitz; Honorary Chairs Ambassador of Italy Armando Varricchio and Mrs. Armando
Varricchio; Committee Co-Chairs include Shelley Banks, Nancy Taylor Bubes, Andrea Mitchell, Kelly Ripkin
and Patricia Sagon; Committee Members include Amy Baier, Lisa Brandt Beek, Grace Bender, Tracy
Bernstein, Wilma Bernstein, Admiral Susan Blumenthal, MD, Buffy Cafritz, Sharon Collins Casey, Meryl
Comer, Debbie Dingell, Liz Dubin, Samia Farouki, Alma Gildenhorn, Marlene A. Malek, Melanie Nussdorf,
Mary Ourisman, Thomas Pheasant, Genevieve McSweeney Ryan, Lorraine Wallace, Tony Verstandig, and
Carol Gildenhorn Winer; Nancy Goodes and Judy Glickman Lauder will also be in attendance.
WHERE: The Ritz-Carlton, Washington, D.C.
1150 22nd Street N.W.
WHEN: Wednesday, April 26, 2017 | 10:30 am – 2:00 pm
10:30 am | Scientific Presentation
12:00 pm | Luncheon & Fashion Show
The Friends of the National Arboretum Garden Fair and Plant Sale will be taking place on April 28 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and on April 29 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the U.S. National Arboretum.
The 27th annual Garden Fair and Plant Sale, hosted by Friends of the National Arboretum (FONA), has moved to a new central location in the U.S. National Arboretum, which is celebrating its 90th year.
This year’s event, April 28-29, has been relocated and will now be outside the Administration Building and Visitor Center, adjacent to the National Capitol Columns, Azalea Collection and the Grove of State Trees. Attendees will see more of the Arboretum grounds as they shop for traditional and rare plants from nurseries around the world, including new offerings like Gentiana acaulis hybrids, Beesia deltophylla, Phygelius cultivars and eight different types of Cypripedium orchids.
The Garden Fair and Plant Sale is a weekend designed for gardeners of all levels in the D.C. area searching for their perfect plant, herbs from the Potomac Unit of the National Herb Society or horticulture guidance from expert horticulturists. The 2017 Garden Fair and Plant Sale will also feature food and drink vendors, a performance by the Washington Revels, and a strawberry potting activity for children.
For more information please visit www.fona.org/gardenfair. I am available to answer any questions you may have.
The Child & Family Network Center announces its Spring Benefit, its largest fundraising event of the year, that will take place on Friday, April 28, 2017 at 7:00pm at the beautiful home of Ray and Shaista Mahmood (4290 Neitzey Place in Alexandria). Their gorgeous house on the shores of the Potomac River has been a sought-after location for many local and international philanthropic events, and gatherings of diplomats and other political and business leaders. With 200 guests, an exclusive venue, and the theme Black, White and Read All Over, this year’s benefit is sure to be bigger and better than ever.
Since 1984, The Child & Family Network Centers has brought education and opportunity to thousands of families in need. In 2017, our critical focus continues to be meeting the ever increasing needs of the community we serve, the working poor of Northern Virginia. Your help is essential to ensure hundreds of children don’t enter kindergarten without the basic skills necessary to succeed. Please join us for a memorable night and help us give Alexandria’s most vulnerable children the preschool education they deserve.
For more information click here or contact Maggie Klefstad at mklefstad@cfnc-online.org
This is the link to purchase tickets: https://
The Friends of the National Arboretum Garden Fair and Plant Sale will be taking place on April 28 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and on April 29 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the U.S. National Arboretum.
The 27th annual Garden Fair and Plant Sale, hosted by Friends of the National Arboretum (FONA), has moved to a new central location in the U.S. National Arboretum, which is celebrating its 90th year.
This year’s event, April 28-29, has been relocated and will now be outside the Administration Building and Visitor Center, adjacent to the National Capitol Columns, Azalea Collection and the Grove of State Trees. Attendees will see more of the Arboretum grounds as they shop for traditional and rare plants from nurseries around the world, including new offerings like Gentiana acaulis hybrids, Beesia deltophylla, Phygelius cultivars and eight different types of Cypripedium orchids.
The Garden Fair and Plant Sale is a weekend designed for gardeners of all levels in the D.C. area searching for their perfect plant, herbs from the Potomac Unit of the National Herb Society or horticulture guidance from expert horticulturists. The 2017 Garden Fair and Plant Sale will also feature food and drink vendors, a performance by the Washington Revels, and a strawberry potting activity for children.
For more information please visit www.fona.org/gardenfair.
What: Join Co-Hosts Barry Dixon and Will Thomas for the Third Annual Rebloom on the Roof cocktail fundraiser at The Hepburn – Grand Apartment Residences. Help us celebrate the power of design to change lives for survivors of domestic violence. Cocktails from DC magazine and lite fare from Casa Luca by renowned DC Chef Fabio Trabocchi. Enjoy an art pop-up show by Capital Artist Collective.
When: Wednesday, May 3, 2017, 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Where: The Hepburn – Grand Apartment Residences, 1901 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20009
Tickets: Tickets are $150.00 via Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.com/e/3rd-annual-rebloom-on-the-roof-tickets-33430410257?aff=erelexpmlt
Website: http://www.roomtorebloom.org/
About Room to Rebloom: About Room to Rebloom: Room to Rebloom is a 501c(3) organization centered on the restorative impact of interior design. Our mission is to design and create healing environments for survivors of domestic violence in the National Capital Area. Confidence and hope are crucial to women who are starting over, and a home that promotes healing and growth should be available to everyone.
Interior designers recognize the connection of environment to personal well-being, and often participate in projects to redesign shelters for homeless and battered women and families. However, Room to Rebloom is the only organization in the region whose mission is to serve domestic violence survivors in independent housing.
The Willard InterContinental, one of Washington, D.C.’s most historic hotels, celebrates the 143rd Kentucky Derby at its 31st Annual Bonnets and Bow Ties Party on Saturday, May 6, from 4pm to 7pm. Known as one of Washington’s most exclusive Derby-centric parties, Bonnets and Bow Ties brings a taste of Churchill Downs to Pennsylvania Avenue. The all-inclusive admission features an afternoon of complete derby coverage, mint juleps, unlimited beer and wine, Southern-style bites, casino-style gaming, live jazz, and prizes for “Best Derby Bonnet,” “Fanciest Bow Tie,” and “High Roller” casino winner.
A long-standing tradition at the hotel, Bonnets and Bow Ties celebrates “The Run for the Roses” in the legendary Willard Room. New to the event this year is the addition of The Paddock, a specialty area where Jim Hewes, a renowned bartender at The Willard for over 30 years, will be distilling the history of bourbon and the mint julep, a traditional beverage served at the Kentucky Derby and the hotel’s signature drink.
Guests to the event will also be able to enjoy a Southern-inspired menu curated by Executive Chef Peter Laufer and Pastry Chef Jason Jimenez. Dishes include a pimento cheese and benedict dip station, stone-ground grits with choice of bourbon cheddar cheese, sautéed shrimp, or bourbon-braised short ribs, a slider station, as well as a variety of appetizers such as hot brown turkey sandwiches, Louisville’s most famous dish. Desserts offered will include dark chocolate pecan derby tarts, mint julep anglaise shooters, whiskey vanilla bean crème brûlée and hummingbird cake bites.
Donning one’s derby best, attendees to Bonnets and Bow Ties have the chance to win dinner for four at Café du Parc for “Best Derby Bonnet” and “Fanciest Bow Tie.” Guests can also try their hand at the event’s various casino games such as Texas hold’em, roulette, blackjack and craps, and have the chance to win a $200 gift certificate to the Round Robin Bar.
Lastly, after Bonnets and Bow Ties, “The Race to the 200th Cup” begins. Upon selling 200 mint juleps in the Round Robin Bar, The Willard will release 100 limited edition commemorative Round Robin Bar Mint Julep cups. Handcrafted from the highest quality pewter by Woodbury Pewter, this cup pays tribute to the famous drink and its historical significance to The Willard as the mint julep was first introduced to Washington by Kentucky Statesman Henry Clay in the hotel’s bar in the 1840s. The lucky purchaser of the 200th mint julep will receive the first commemorative cup. Each cup will have its respective number engraved at the bottom. The Round Robin Bar’s Commemorative Mint Julep Cup will be available for purchase with The Bicentennial Mint Julep, a specialty julep made with Makers Mark 46, in the Round Robin Bar for $50.
All-inclusive tickets to The Willard’s Bonnets and Bow Ties Kentucky Derby Party are now available and can be purchased online at www.washington.intercontinental.com/special-offers for $89 through April 21 and $99 any day after. Tickets are nonrefundable.
Stay “In the Know” regarding the Willard InterContinental’s Bonnets and Bow Ties Party by following the hotel on Facebook (WillardInterContinental), Twitter (@WillardHotel) and Instagram (Willard_InterContinentalDC).
