Enjoy the culinary treats of lower Westchester while benefiting children worldwide who have life-threatening heart defects.

Live music, gourmet foods, fine wines, and a Silent Auction will highlight “TASTINGS for Gift of Life,” as Rotary Club of the Pelhams presents their fifth annual fundraising event Sunday, October 18, 2008 from 4-7pm in the Grand Ballroom of the New York Athletic Club on Travers Island, Pelham Manor.

The best of southern Westchester’s food establishments will offer their signature specialties against a backdrop of breathtaking views of Long Island Sound and the music of Pelham Jazz Ensemble. Wine tastings will be offered by the French Wine Shop, and bottled wines will be available for purchase at a discount.

Proceeds benefit Gift of Life, Inc., a program of Rotary International supported by many of its individual Clubs around the world. More than 7,000 children have been flown to the U.S. since 1975 for critically needed open-heart surgery that is not obtainable or affordable in their own country. Military, medical and diplomatic personnel, including in war zones, work to identify the children most in need for correctable care, coordinating with physicians in this country and arranging travelling credentials for the children and parents or guardians. Once in the U.S., medical care is provided on a completely volunteer basis by cardiologists, surgeons, nurses and other hospital staff. Locally, these have included cardiologists, surgeons, nurses and other dedicated members of the Maria Fareri Children's Hospital of Westchester Medical Center (Valhalla), and Montefiore Children's Hospital (Bronx). Participating Rotary Clubs raise funds to cover transportation and other non-medical costs.

Through the support of the community, the Town of Pelham has hosted five young children while receiving their care. When a stroke prevented a sixth child, four year old Abdullah, from travelling from Iraq to NY, Rotary Club of the Pelhams sponsored his medical care in Jordan. “Aboudi,” as he has come to be known, is temporarily living there with his mother while recuperating and awaiting his second coronary surgery.