Restaurant and hospitality workers showed up for their community long before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now it’s the community’s time to return the favor.
“Our restaurant workers are exposed on a daily basis,” CDAIDE fundraiser volunteer and Care Affair event chair Bev Moss said Friday. “We have choices where we want to go, but they don’t have choices. They show up because we want to go out. We can go and somebody will be there.”
CDAIDE’s largest fundraiser, the Care Affair, is at 5 p.m. Thursday in The Coeur d’Alene Resort.
Organizers want people to come to the event in person if they feel safe to do so.
“We understand,” Moss said. “But if folks have been out enjoying local hospitality establishments, we certainly hope they would consider attending.”
This year’s Care Affair is set to be the fanciest yet. Premium packages are up for auction. Guests can win a catered cocktail party for 12 with Jesse Waldman, the head chef of Seasons of Coeur d’Alene. The evening will be held in a luxury suite in One Lakeside with overnight accommodations for the host, plus brunch the next morning at Collective Kitchen.
“We’re calling that one ‘the Downtowner,'” Moss said.
Another prize is a sunset package featuring appetizers and cocktails at Whispers in The Coeur d’Alene Resort, then an evening cruise on a Stancraft wooden boat and dinner for six at Cedars Floating Restaurant.
A coveted basket with hundreds of dollars of Trader Joe’s merchandise and products will also be offered up for raffle.
Care Affair festivities will include appetizers, a buffet dinner with creative cuisine sponsored by Sysco and champagne to accompany the dishes.
CDAIDE was established as an Idaho nonprofit in 2017 and as a federally-recognized charitable organization in 2018. At its heart is a simple, but important mission: To connect restaurant and hospitality workers in need with resources and support.
“This is a hard time. This is winter. This is when their hours are cut,” Moss said. “Most service workers don’t access services. They’re used to working hard and paying their bills.”
Care Affair tickets are $75, tables are $600 and sponsored tables are $1,000.
“There will be lots of surprises,” Moss said. “It’s an evening that will be more than people expect. That’s what our workers do in our community — they give us more than we expect on a consistent basis.”
Visit Cdaide.org for tickets.
By DEVIN WEEKS Staff Writer
CDA/POST FALLS PRESS
