Editor’s note: This press release was provided by the Rotary Club of the Pelhams. The Pelham Examiner publishes press releases in the form received as a service to the community.

Tickets are on sale for Tastings XVI, the wine and food event of Rotary Club of the Pelhams to be held on Sunday, Oct. 16 from 4-7pm at Pelham Country Club, celebrating the club’s 75th Anniversary. The bulk of proceeds will go to life-saving heart surgeries for foreign children through the Gift of Life program with other funds for local youth programs.

Tickets are $100 per person and may be purchased online at pelhamrotary.com or by check payable to Pelham Rotary Charities Fund mailed to PO Box 8073 Pelham NY 10803. Check or credit card will be accepted at the door.

Tastings XVI honorees will be past presidents of Rotary Club of the Pelhams as well as past Rotary Scholarship winners and Pelham families who hosted foreign children for heart surgeries through the Gift of Life program. Those families and the children they hosted were John and Lucy Carney- Emerson (Colombia) in 1997; John Felicetti and Marie Dumas- Ali (Iraq) in 2006, Haider (Iraq) in 2008, Louis (Haiti) in 2010 and Oliver (Belize) in 2014); Kathie O’Callaghan and Bruno Walmsley – Ali (Iraq) in 2006; Lyn Roth-Jacobs and Bill Jacobs- Katherine Nicole (El Salvador) in 2010, Emal (Kosovo) in 2010, Chizzy (Nigeria) in 2012, Ike (Nigeria) in 2018; Frank Tripodi- Bright (Nigeria) in 2016. In addition, Rotary Club of the Pelhams has donated thousands of dollars to medical missions for heart surgeries in Lebanon, Syria and the Philippines as well as other countries.

Twenty restaurants, caterers and a bakery plan to participate in Tastings XVI and offer their signature dishes. Blue Dog Wine and Spirits of Pelham, a major sponsor, will offer tastings of several wines which may be preordered by the case. Alternative Medicine Brewery of Mt. Vernon will offer tastings of its craft beer.

Music will be provided by members of the Phillip James Orchestra, which is known for its appearances at the summer concert series at The Pelham Gazebo.

A major artwork by Charles Fazzino will be raffled, and the Silent Auction will feature jewelry, tickets, a small refrigerator and more than 20 restaurant gift certificates as well as art by Charlotte Mouquin of Pelham Art Center and Charles Fazzino.

Tastings XVI is the final event of Pelham Rotary’s 75th Anniversary Year. The Rotary Club sponsored a free environmental movie at The Picture House in April on the eve of Earth Day, held a Rotary Day reception at The Pelham Art Center in May, collected funds for the Pelham Rotary/Interact team in the Alzheimer’s Westchester Walk-a-thon in October and has purchased a new bench for placement near The Pelham Town Gazebo.