Tickets are on sale for “Yacht Party,” the 32 annual Las Cruces Dress the Child fundraising dinner.
The event is 5-9 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 23, at Amador Live, 302 S. Main St. in downtown Las Cruces. Tickets are $75-$100, depending on where you sit at Amador Live: Broken Spoke patio: $75; upstairs, Amador patio, Tap Room: $100.
All proceeds benefit the Las Cruces Dress the Child program, which works with local schools to provide new clothing and shoes for hundreds of children in need.
With KVIA-TV news anchor Hillary Floren as emcee, the event will include outstanding local chefs serving unique recipes at food stations in the Amador Live outdoor venue, along with live entertainment by Vybez Band, a silent auction and a 50-50 drawing.
Photo caption: Left to right are 2022 Dress the Child of Las Cruces coordinators and volunteers Matt Holt, Max Bower (owner of Amador Live) Vince Campbell, Carleigh Salmon and Doug Boberg.
“For over 30 years, the annual Dress the Child dinner has provided critical funding for the program,” said event co-coordinator Doug Boberg. “We are counting on this year’s dinner to help make up for two lost years of revenue due to the covid 19 pandemic. Children living in poverty count on Dress the Child to help them with new clothing and shoes and we count on the dinner to help us help them.”
“This year we won’t only be offering great food, attendees can also bid on unique packages on experiences, everything from a weekend in Cloudcroft to private cooking lessons to an evening in Las Vegas with David Copperfield,” said co-coordinator Matt Holt.
“Our participating chefs are looking forward to showcasing their talents while interacting with our patrons in such a beautiful atmosphere,” said co-coordinator and participating chef Vince Campbell, a part of Dress the Child for more than three decades. Campbell is executive chef at Grapevine Plaza and Event Center.
Photo caption: Left to right are 2022 Dress the Child of Las Cruces coordinators and volunteers Matt Holt, Vince Campbell, Doug Boberg, Carleigh Salmon and Amador Live owner Max Bower.
“This event has such a rich history of helping children in our community,” said co-coordinator and participating chef Tom Drake. “Doña Ana Community College (DACC) is proud to be part of this year’s event.” Drake is a culinary arts instructor at DACC.
Centennial High School family and consumer sciences teacher Carleigh Salmon, who has volunteered with Dress the Child for nearly 20 years, will bring about 25 CHS students to help with the event.
Yacht Party participating chefs and the dishes they will prepare are
• Station 1 (Martha’s Vineyard): Clam chowder and lobster rolls, Good Samaritan Executive Chef Hector Cadena, New England;
• Station 2 (Acapulco): Ceviche cocktail and oysters, Amador Live Executive Chef Marc Najmi;
• Station 3 (Caribbean): Roasted pork taco sampling, Tom Drake;
• Station 4 (Gulf Coast/Florida): Crab/shrimp boil, D.H. Lescombes Winery & Bistro Executive Chef Kevin Chavez;
• Station 5 (New Orleans): Jambalaya/etouffee, MountainView Regional Medical Center Food Service Director and Executive Chef Paul McKim and Vince Campbell; and
• Station 6 (regional favorites): Assorted petit fours, DACC special cake and patisserie instructor Jenn Hart.
Event sponsors are, at the Commodore level: Citizens Bank; and Captain’s Club: Back in Action, Fletcher Farms, Mynatt Martínez Springer P.C. and an anonymous donor.
For tickets, visit dressthechildlc.org. Click on “Annual Fundraising Dinner” and “Buy Your Tickets Today!”
Dress the Child is sponsored by the Rio Grande Rotary Foundation. Dress the Child works with Las Cruces Public Schools and the Gadsden Independent School District to provide new clothes and shoes to children in need, many of whom have never had new clothes.
In December, volunteers will take each child and a parent shopping at a local store. Each child will have $100 to spend on clothing; participating stores have always added more to that total, he said.
Dress the Child provided clothing to 15 needy children in 1984 (its first year). It provided clothes to more than 450 children in 2014, 466 in 2015, 487 in 2016, 581 in 2017, 627 in 2018 and 518 in 2019. Numbers dropped to 300 in 2020 and 150 in 2021 because of COVID-19, Boberg said.
Contact Boberg at 575-644-9469 and drboberg@gmail.com, Holt at 575-993-2331 and matt.holt@attorneyholt.com, Campbell at 575-496-9650 and otisvcampbell@gmail.com and Drake at 575-312-6923 andtdrake@nmsu.edu.
To donate make a donation for care kits for kids, visit: https://lcpsf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=1264.
You can also send a check to LCRGRF Dress the Child, P.O. Box 550, Las Cruces, N.M, 88004. Or, take your donation to Julie Koenig at First New Mexico Bank, 3000 E. Lohman Ave.
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