Pacifica Gardens Harvest Fundraising Dinner, Saturday, Oct 1

Pacifica Gardens is will hold annual Harvest Fundraising Dinner on Saturday, October 1. Fresh produce from the garden, sustainably harvested seafood from local coastal waters, regional artisan cheeses and other nearby food producers will be brought together for a One-Hundred Mile Meal, sponsored by Bon Appetit Management to benefit Pacifica Gardens.

Sourced from food and wine produced or grown within a 100-mile radius of Pacifica (www.pacifica-gardens.org), the event is Pacifica Gardens’ third annual fundraising event and will be held at the Pacifica Moose Lodge, 776 Bradford Way. Google Executive Chef Olivia Wu and Chef Helene Kennan, Bon Appétit culinary director at Google, will lead a team of chefs to prepare the feast.

The event begins at 5:30 p.m. with a silent auction and live jazz followed by dinner. Tickets are $95 per person, $170 per couple and $500 for a table of six. Tickets can be purchased online at www.pacifica-gardens.org or by calling Georgette Evans at 650-355-6260.

Bon Appétit, the event sponsor for the second year is an onsite restaurant company providing culinary expertise with a commitment to socially responsible practices. The first food service company to address issues related to where our food comes from and how it is grown, Bon Appétit has become a model for what is possible in sustainable food service.

Olivia Wu, an executive chef at Google, brings the core values of healthy, local, seasonal, sustainable and organic to Google’s culinary program. A former food writer at the San Francisco Chronicle, she is the author of two books, including The Grand Wok Cookbook. Helene Kennan, former executive chef for the Getty Center in Los Angeles, is the district manager for Bon Appétit at Google, overseeing 17 cafes at Google in Northern California. Wu and Kennan will be joined by star chefs and managers from Bon Appétit, including Hillary Bergh and Jennifer Hancox.

The evening will conclude with a live auction of “An Evening at Sam’s Castle”, which has been generously donated by The Sam Mazza Foundation. The winner will have the opportunity to host a party at the famous historical coastal castle.

“We are incredibly honored and excited to have this all-star team of culinary experts return to Pacifica to prepare our third One-Hundred Mile Meal. We have so much to celebrate this year and are extremely proud of our accomplishments in 2011. We look forward to celebrating with our volunteers, our community partners and our supporters,” says Loretta O’Brien, project director.

2011 has been the year of education at Pacifica Gardens. The generous support of Kaiser Permanente made expansion of the school education program possible. Over 400 Pacifica school children visited the garden this year to learn about composting, planting, ecology and the importance of eating healthy, organic food.

In addition to hosting field trips for children, Pacifica Gardens held adult education events and

? workshops on composting, garden based education, biointensive mini-farming and coastal veggie growing.

Now at the end of its fourth growing season, Pacifica Gardens’ volunteers have grown and harvested over 5,000 lbs. of organic produce. Adult and community service volunteers have logged over 10,000 hours to build and maintain Pacifica’s urban agriculture project. Community volunteers share the garden’s harvest with families in need through produce donations to Pacifica Resource Center.

Pacifica Gardens mission to “educate, cultivate and inspire the community to grow food locally” is supported by Kaiser Permanente, The Sam Mazza Foundation, The Law Firm of Buchalter Nemer, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, The Pacifica Garden Club, Pacifica’s Environmental Family and many other community members and partners.

For more information about Pacifica Gardens or to purchase tickets to the One-Hundred Mile Meal, please visit www.pacifica-gardens.org.

Bon Appétit, the event sponsor for the second year is an onsite restaurant company providing culinary expertise with a commitment to socially responsible practices. The first food service company to address issues related to where our food comes from and how it is grown, Bon Appétit has become a model for what is possible in sustainable food service.

Olivia Wu, an executive chef at Google, brings the core values of healthy, local, seasonal, sustainable and organic to Google’s culinary program. A former food writer at the San Francisco Chronicle, she is the author of two books, including The Grand Wok Cookbook. Helene Kennan, former executive chef for the Getty Center in Los Angeles, is the district manager for Bon Appétit at Google, overseeing 17 cafes at Google in Northern California. Wu and Kennan will be joined by star chefs and managers from Bon Appétit, including Hillary Bergh and Jennifer Hancox.

The evening will conclude with a live auction of “An Evening at Sam’s Castle”, which has been generously donated by The Sam Mazza Foundation. The winner will have the opportunity to host a party at the famous historical coastal castle.

“We are incredibly honored and excited to have this all-star team of culinary experts return to Pacifica to prepare our third One-Hundred Mile Meal. We have so much to celebrate this year and are extremely proud of our accomplishments in 2011. We look forward to celebrating with our volunteers, our community partners and our supporters,” says Loretta O’Brien, project director.

2011 has been the year of education at Pacifica Gardens. The generous support of Kaiser Permanente made expansion of the school education program possible. Over 400 Pacifica school children visited the garden this year to learn about composting, planting, ecology and the importance of eating healthy, organic food.

In addition to hosting field trips for children, Pacifica Gardens held adult education events and

? workshops on composting, garden based education, biointensive mini-farming and coastal veggie growing.

Now at the end of its fourth growing season, Pacifica Gardens’ volunteers have grown and harvested over 5,000 lbs. of organic produce. Adult and community service volunteers have logged over 10,000 hours to build and maintain Pacifica’s urban agriculture project. Community volunteers share the garden’s harvest with families in need through produce donations to Pacifica Resource Center.

Pacifica Gardens mission to “educate, cultivate and inspire the community to grow food locally” is supported by Kaiser Permanente, The Sam Mazza Foundation, The Law Firm of Buchalter Nemer, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, The Pacifica Garden Club, Pacifica’s Environmental Family and many other community members and partners.

For more information about Pacifica Gardens or to purchase tickets to the One-Hundred Mile Meal, please visit www.pacifica-gardens.org.