Chicago WILDERNESS Magazine Raises
Funds at Benefit Dinner
Chicago WILDERNESS Magazine held its
first ever benefit dinner at Kendall College on October
7 with a quintet of chefs celebrating the harvest of the
season by highlighting foods from local farms and vendors.
The event, supported by corporate sponsors — BP,
Boeing, ComEd, Whole Foods, Christopher Burke Engineering,
and European Imports — and a full house of 120 guests
at the Evanston culinary institute, raised $25,000 for
the non-profit magazine, now entering its sixth year of
publication.
Ritz-Carlton chef Sarah Stegner,
Brookfield Zoo director Dr. George Rabb, and Chicago WILDERNESS
editor Debra Shore at a benefit for the magazine. Photo
by Todd Brown.
Sarah Stegner from the Ritz-Carlton
Dining Room (Chicago), Carrie Nahabedian from Naha (Chicago),
Shawn McClain from Spring (Chicago), Michael Altenberg
from Campagnola (Evanston), and Gale Gand from Tru (Chicago)
each donated their services to cook a course for the dinner.
Other magazine supporters such as Tryon Farms, Chicagoland
Canoe Base, Art and Linda's Wildflowers, Eagle Optics,
Scott Byron Landscape Design, John Fiore and Company,
Blackbird restaurant, the Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum,
Chicago Botanic Garden, and Brookfield Zoo, and photographer
Joe Kayne and artist Peggy Macnamara donated items for
a wildly successful silent auction.
Thanks are also due to Two Brothers
Brewing Company (for Prairie Path ale!), Heritage Wine
Cellars, Midwest and Finer Foods, Red Hen Bakery, and
Hudson Valley Foie Gras for their donations to the meal
and to The Natural Garden for supplying catchy baskets
of native plants for table centerpieces. Phyllis Wier
of The Talent Connection generously donated the design
and printing of the evening's program booklet.
"This magazine has become an
important voice for conservation in this region,"
said Dr. George Rabb, president of the magazine's board
of directors, "as well as a tremendous treat for
the eyes each season. There is none other like it. We
hope that we can build an ever wider and larger audience
for the message this magazine carries — that there
is rare nature in this region and a wonderful coalition
of organizations working to preserve and restore it."
