Dylan Holmes, Ashlee Minnis and Rebecca Lucas, all Kaleidoscope alumni, serve at last year's Island Grown, Island Raised dinner
The 5th annual gourmet dinner, wine tasting and auction to benefit Kaleidoscope Preschool and Child Care Center will take place on Saturday, Sept. 12.
The dinner has grown each year, and last year, $15,000 was raised by the dinner/auction.
“It’s absolutely our largest fundraiser of the year,” say Amber Poulson, Kaleidoscope Director. “We usually serve about 50 people at the event. We want it to feel personal but, in typical Kaleidoscope fashion, we never turn anyone away.”
Hors d’oeuvres, wine tasting and auction browsing will begin the evening at 5:30 p.m. The five-course dinner, featuring Puget Sound salmon, will begin at 6:30, and the live auction will take place during the dessert course of mixed berry crisp. Each course will be paired with a sampling of Lopez Vineyards Wine. All menu items are island grown or made. Dinner will be served by Kaleidoscope alumni.
The silent auction closes at 8:30 p.m.
Some of the auction items already listed are a City Getaway to a houseboat on Seattle’s Lake Union, including roundtrip airfare on Kenmore Air, a 3-hour Sunset Cruise on a 35-foot sailboat, a stay at the Deer Harbor Innn retreat, include dinner and wine, and a night in Frediay Harbor’s Best Western Hotel, with dinner at the Peppermill Restaurant and San Juan Air transportation.
Kaleidoscope will accept donations to both the silent and live auctions up until the very last minute, says Poulson.
“The generosity of the community shows in the auction bidding. For example, the homemade cookies that are made each month for a year become a real competitive item – they are priceless, and the little chocolate junkies come out in almost everybody.”
Tickets for the Sept. 12 dinner are $50 per person for the evening, and complimentary childcare is available at the Kaleidoscope building on North Beach Road, beginning at 6 p.m. Pizza will be provided for the children.
Poulson says that, for her, the standout feature of the banquet is the assistance Kaleidoscope receivers from “the farmers in our community. They are so supportive of our cause. They’re the main reason the dinners are such a success. They come looking for me in September, if I haven’t contacted them yet.”
Orcas Daycare Association, aka Kaleidoscope, is a registered 501C(3) non-profit corporation, and donations to it are tax deductible. Poulson says ironically, “We take our non-profit status very seriously– we don’t make a penny.”
However the childcare center saw a “packed-full summer,” which Poulson says, is “a real indicator of our economy from the working family perspective. Going to work is one indicator of the economy getting stronger.”
Enrollment for the building on North Beach Road has been typically 30 kids housed at Kaleidoscope at a given time, and a total of 50 enrolled at one time.
Looking forward, the center has an almost-full pre-school program as well as before- and after-school care programs.
It is open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. year-round except for the major holidays. Kaleidoscope is nearly completed with its work with the County Planning Department to meet the requirements for its Infant Care Center. “We’re close” to starting construction, says Poulson.
To contact Kaleidsoscope, call 376-2484 or mail PO Box 1276, Eastsound WA 98245.
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