Free clinic to have farm-to-table dinner
By Tracy Ouellette
SLN staff
The Open Arms Free Clinic is hosting a farm-to-table dinner fundraiser from 4 to 10 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 24, at Boxed and Burlap, 2935 Highway 67, Delavan.
Open Arms Free Clinic is a private, non-profit, health-care clinic supported by donations and grants, Nichols said. Through individual, grant, and event-based giving, the community is supporting the clinic and helping to provide life-saving medications and health care services to the working poor living in Walworth County.
In the last five years, more than $1 million of in-kind services by volunteer doctors, dentists and other medical professionals have helped more than 2,300 patients.
Open Arms Executive Director Sara Nichols said the community support of Open Arms has been “wonderful” and now the organization is looking toward the long-term future of the clinic and how to fund it.
“I think we’ve grown so much in the past five years we’ve been open,” she said. “It’s all been based on community support and those who have believed in the mission. But now it’s time to find the sustaining members who want to help continue this mission for years to come.
“We’ve had many people who’ve been generous in their annual donations and their part in the events, but it has not gotten to the point where people have made five-year pledges that we can build on and this is the time we need to start doing that.”
Nichols went on to say that getting the word out about what the clinic does is vital as they move forward.
“I feel like only about 1 percent of the people in the county know what we do,” she said. “This dinner is a way for us to do that.”
The idea for the dinner came from a community member who brought it to Nichols.
“They said this would be a really wonderful opportunity to showcase what the community does with growers and farmers and what the community does with Open Arms because this really has been a community effort to serve our friends and neighbors locally,” Nichols said.
The farm-to-table dinner is designed to highlight the best the county has to offer with Chef Charlie Lorenzi, of Celebrations on Wells Catering, showcasing fresh produce, meats and wines from local farmers and growers.
Apple Barn Orchard and Winery, Hewn Artisan Breads, Pearce Farm, Rushing Waters, Pinn-Oak Ridge Farm, and Yuppie Hill Farm will all be featured at the event.
“Chef Charlie is gathering all the in-kind gifts we’ve received and is in the process of putting together the menu,” Nichols said. “I believe the lamb is going to be the main course. I know that we have chickens and fish and a lot of other delicious things, but the full menu hasn’t been set yet.”
Bluegrass band Noah John and the Ringing Irons will provide the entertainment.
“One of our committee members heard them play before and thought this was just the right spirit of what we wanted for the event,” Nichols said.
Tickets are still available for the dinner at $150 each.
For more information about the clinic or to purchase tickets for the farm-to-table dinner, go to OpenArmsFreeClinic.org or call (262) 379-1401.
