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March 04, 2006

Cafe Momus Recap - "Wow!"

CAFEMOMUS EVENT AN OUTSTANDING SUCCESS!
Over $26,000 raised for 2006 Outreach Projects

Six months ago June LaBarre, Dorie Ives, and Lucy Strandberg of the Social Ministries/Outreach Commission wanted to bring Trinity Parish together for a dinner/auction fundraiser. Larry Hancock, Music Director, offered singers from Opera San José for entertainment. Café Momus on Saturday night, January 28th turned out to be the highlight of the new year.

Our plain vanilla parish hall was transformed into a vintage French plaza; the vision of Patrick Heaton. In three days her crew (Ron Mancini, Gary d’Arc, Carl Ditmore, Pat Erbes) installed window boxes, balconies, “gaslights” and awnings to create: Bistro Brahy, Le Boulanger, Boucherie, Théâtre de Californie, Modiste, the Fino Fino Chapellier (hats), a Fleur cart, and, of course, Café Momus. The tables were beautifully decorated by Marianne Dean and her crew and sported souvenir commemorative wine glasses etched for the occasion by John Crevelt of Krefelds. That night over 135 patrons tasted wine [provided by Rich Rorden and Peggy Shippen of Cantiga Wineworks] and sampled hors d’ouevres served by our youth servers while the guests browsed the Silent Auction rooms filled with donated items and made their first bids.

Monsieur Chef JB Brahy welcomed all in “Franglais” and served up a sumptuous French meal prepared by a dozen hardworking kitchen crew, with wines donated by Cantiga Wineworks, the Morrisseys, and Sonoma Wines. Emcee Larry Hancock introduced four soloists from Opera San José’s La Bohème, who sang their way into our hearts.
After a last call to the auction rooms came dessert—an absolutely scrumptious decadent chocolate cake baked by Virginia Debs and an army of her friends.

Auctioneers David Arscott and Jonathan MacQuitty provided witty repartee as they cajoled the crowd into bidding even higher on some of the items: Giants tickets, a vineyard tour with dinner and overnight, a weekend in Carmel (which turned into two weekends thanks to the generosity of the Savages), deluxe tickets to Swan Lake, a week in Coronado, and Polly Fuller’s cheesy grits casserole (value $4). Polly sat there in stunned disbelief as the bid rose; finally she agreed to make two casseroles as the price reached $425 each! At the end of the evening, while the Men’s group cleaned up, we sold off French art posters, centerpieces, and plants to benefit the Youth Group’s Mission this summer, raising $725 for their trip.