Last week I had the opportunity to attend Eat, Drink and Give to raise money for the Doctors Without Borders disaster relief in Haiti. On February 9, 2010 several local restaurants, wineries and wine distributors gathered in donated space at Roy Thomson Hall for an evening of good food, drink and music. It was truly amazing to see how many vendors, wine lovers and foodies turned out in order to raise well over $40 000 for Doctors Without Borders. It was such a relaxed atmosphere and everyone looked like they were having a really good time. I particularly enjoyed eating a scrumptious Buddha Dog while sipping some Cabernet Sauvignon from Megalomaniac. Who knew that a hot dog could taste so good AND go with wine??
On a more serious note, there were several speakers who addressed the crowd, one of whom was Communications Advisor/ International Press Advisor for Doctors Without Borders, Isabelle Jeanson. Isabelle had recently returned home from Haiti and had some stories to share. I felt uneasy standing there in nice clothes, in a beautiful building, eating and drinking while so many people in Haiti had lost everything. However, I felt proud to be a part of such a generous community. I have been following Isabelle Jeanson on Twitter since she went to Haiti immediately after the earthquake. Through her tweets I have been keeping up to date with everything that Doctors Without Borders has been doing in Port-Au-Prince and the surrounding area and I know they are doing tremendous work. Hopefully with the money that was raised they can help many more people.
Thank you to everyone who organized and attended Eat, Drink and Give!