Stew Leonard will be getting in touch with his Italian roots, when his Stew Leonard III Children”™s Charities foundation holds its Celebration of Italian Food and Wine event at its Yonkers location Sept. 23 from 4 to 7 p.m. The event will feature celebrity chef Lidia Bastianich and more than 50 award-winning Italian wines.
“The event is going to have first-class wine and first-class food,” said Stew Leonard. “There are going to be different tables set up with food from different regions of Italy. From Piedmont to Tuscany to Sicily, you will literally taste your way through Italy with all of Lidia”™s recipes.”
The event is sponsored by Southern Wines and Spirits, American Express and Bank of America. Tickets are $250. Guests will receive a free cookbook and a chance to meet Bastianich. There will be a silent auction featuring items like tickets to Rao”™s Restaurant, tickets and backstage passes to the Martha Stewart Show and VIP tours of Vineyards in California, Italy, France and Long Island.
With the festivities comes a great cause. Leonard and his wife, Kim, established the foundation in 1990 after the drowning of their 21-month-old son. Turning tragedy into something positive, the foundation has been helping children and teens learn how to swim in Westchester and Fairfield counties.
“Some of the funds from our foundation are given to the Future Stars program of the YMCA in Yonkers. They bring kids who are 200 percent below poverty level and bus them to the Westchester pool to provide a summer camp for them,” said Leonard.
In addition to the summer camp”™s swimming program, Leonard”™s foundation also helps to fund a successful life guard training program, various trips to parks and the theater, and after-school activities like the Drum Corps and a book club.
“When Stew Leonard comes to the Y, everyone is so in awe. He”™s such a down-to-earth guy and everyone loves to talk to him,” said Greg du Sablon, CEO of the YMCA of Yonkers. “Whether it”™s in the pool, the gym or the game room, Stew Leonard”™s funding has helped the organization as a whole.”
“We decided to have this event to reach out and help more children,” said Leonard. “This is a fun and worthy cause.”
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