Getting a Taste of Giving
By Christy Oldani
Wine, food, bread pudding, and all for a good cause to support the United Way! It was a tough job, but someone had to do it.
Fellow GenNexter Stephanie Herbers and I claimed Harvest as our restaurant to host for United Way’s first ever Taste of Giving night. The event started at 5:30 p.m. and Stephanie and I donned our oversized Live United shirts. We tied our shirts up in a knot to fit, like we did in the 80s, but we didn’t care how we looked, we just wanted folks to know we were supporting the United Way.
We planted ourselves at the bar and proudly spread out 2-1-1 and other United Way brochures on the hostess stand and bar. We greeted every guest on their way in, letting them know it was United Way night and 20 percent of their bill would be donated to the United Way to help the nearly 200 agencies in our community they serve.
Almost everyone coming into the restaurant was coming to support the United Way. We spoke to a man who was running the agency side of fundraising. We spoke to several who do other jobs with United Way agencies or work for the United Way. One young couple had heard about the Taste of Giving while watching the Blues game. They decided to change their “date night” to Tuesday instead of Thursday and come out to support the United Way.
Stephanie’s friends Ellen and Tyler were there and did their part to order wine, salads, “the specials” and dessert to support this good cause. Several unsuspecting Harvest guests were thrilled to learn it was United Way night and said they would order more just for us.
We thanked everyone again on the way out and passed out United Way pins.
Stephanie and I did our part too. We each had $10 glasses of wine, then delicious entrees and bread pudding. Unfortunately, we forgot to take a picture of the bread pudding until it was half eaten — as you can see to the right. This bread pudding is “change your life” good and it swims in butter.
If you missed out on restaurant night, feel free to make an extra little donation to the United Way. The agencies we volunteer with desperately need our support. You can donate online and even consider joining us as members of the Leadership Giving Initiatives. We know it’s our job to make a difference, no matter if it takes eating dessert or donating our money, time and service any way we can. �