Tag: charity

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Book Features Books

Lightman’s Excellent Cambodian Adventure

CREDIT: nubar.com

Memphis-born writer and MIT physicist Alan Lightman was the subject of a long profile in the The Boston Globe last week. The story recounts Lightman’s efforts to build a women’s college dorm in Cambodia.

Lightman began doing charity work in Cambodia after becoming friends with a minister who had asked to use Lightman’s novel Einstein’s Dreams in a sermon. While on one such trip, Lightman learned that many women don’t pursue a college education because they don’t have a safe place to stay.

“The women started coming up to us, holding their babies, and said, ‘Please help us build a school,’ ” he told the Globe. “I was just amazed that in this remote village with no electricity, no plumbing, no toilets, they were talking about education. . . . I was overwhelmed by their courage and their ability to think in the long term.”

With donations from friends and family, Lightman built Harpswell Foundation Dormitory for University Women in Phnom Penh. The building is named for Harpswell, Maine, where Lightman spends summers.

To read the story, go here.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

A Café Makeover

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Café de France, inside Palladio Antiques & Art, closed in June. In its place is Café Palladio, which opened in early September. And while the address is the same, the café itself has gotten a facelift.

“We raised the floor so that all tables are on the same level, and we updated the furniture,” says Rebekah Vaughn, the café’s manager. “We’re using white tablecloths for a brighter, more contemporary look.”

Former Café de France regulars won’t be disappointed. Even though most baked goods aren’t made in-house anymore, the menu still offers great lunch fare. Sandwiches such as “Chunkie-Chicken Salad,” “Southern Fried Green Tomato,” and “Dixie Delight” (a vegetarian option) come with a choice of potato, fruit, pasta, or side salad. Large salads include grilled chicken Caesar, Greek chicken salad, and pear and walnut salad, among others. Desserts are plentiful too: Homemade brownies, coconut cake, and layer cake (caramel, red velvet, strawberry, chocolate) come from Sugaree’s Bakery in New Albany, Mississippi, and there are locally made sweets, such as Ms. Katz Cobblers, based on availability.

Café Palladio is open for lunch Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Café Palladio, 2169 Central (278-0129)

This year’s Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, was another record year for the world-famous event. From September 22nd to October 7th, visitors drank 6.7 million mass, the standard one-quart beer served from tap in humongous steins. The Wiesn, the locals’ name for the fest, drew 6.2 million visitors. On one Saturday, thirsty guests were turned away from the beer tents just a few minutes after opening at 9 a.m. because they were already at maximum capacity.

If you didn’t make it to Munich this year, try local brew pubs and restaurants for a little Oktoberfest spirit.

The Flying Saucer (130 Peabody Place, 523-7468) offers Spaten Oktober, Paulaner Oktober, Sam Adams October, and Dogfish Head Pumpkin Ale on tap. Buffalo Bill’s Wild Pumpkin and Schlafly Pumpkin beer in bottles should arrive any day now. In honor of Oktoberfest, the pub holds a monk’s blessing of the kegs every Friday at 5 p.m. during October.

At Boscos Squared (2120 Madison, 432-2222), you can enjoy Boscos Oktoberfest on tap for a limited time. It’s Boscos’ version of the full-flavored, full-bodied, golden German beer.

Tuesday on the Terrace at the Memphis Botanic Garden (750 Cherry, 576-4131) on October 30th is also Oktoberfest-themed. Instead of beer, guests can enjoy German and Alsatian wines and German food. The event is from 6 to 8 p.m. Reservations are suggested. Cost for the event is $25 per person.

The coming weeks offer plenty of opportunities for those who want to eat good and do good too. October 23rd is the date for the Great Chefs Tasting, the annual tasting and silent auction benefiting United Cerebral Palsy. Participating restaurants include Grill 83, Memphis Pizza Café, Circa, Folks Folly, Café 61, Central BBQ, Soul Fish, Celtic Crossing, and many others. Tickets for the event, which is being held at the Pink Palace Museum, are $40 in advance and $45 at the door. For tickets, call 320-6362.

On November 2nd, you can raise your wine glass to support the National Kidney Foundation of West Tennessee during this year’s Sip Around the World. The event at the Memphis Botanic Garden offers fine wines, hors d’oeuvres, and live and silent auctions. Tickets are $65 in advance and $75 at the door. The event starts at 7 p.m. For tickets, call 683-6185 or visit www.nkfwtn.org.

From November 5th through 12th, you can help “Feed the Need” by adding a donation to the Memphis Food Bank to your restaurant bill. The Food Bank serves more than 300 agencies in the Mid-South and helps prevent hunger by delivering food to the needy and through services such as the Kids Café and the Food for Kids BackPack and the Prepared and Perishable Meals Recovery programs.

For more information and a list of participating restaurants, call 527-0841 or visit www.memphisfoodbank.org.

Categories
News

Cross-country Biker Stops in Memphis

CREDIT: www.ride4c9.com

Laddie Williams is in the middle of a bike ride from Palm Springs, California to Charleston, South Carolina.

Williams is a firefighter in Augusta, Georgia, who embarked upon this journey to raise money for the families of the nine Charleston firefighters who died fighting a June 18, 2007 blaze at a furniture warehouse. No incident since 9-11 had claimed so many firefighters’ lives.

Williams, a support vehicle, and a bike mechanic, Scott Rousseau, planned to travel around 100 miles per day, and stay in firehouses each night. Yesterday, they made it from Little Rock to Memphis on Highway 70. The charity riders said they disliked the erratic quality of Arkansas roads, and felt relieved upon making it to Memphis.

Local firefighters took the bikers to Jim Neely’s Interstate Barbecue restaurant for some much-needed protein. The riders were impressed with the downtown Fire Museum of Memphis at 118 Adams.

To learn more about the charity ride, make a donation, or keep tabs of the riders via their blog, visit www.ride4c9.com.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Santa’s Little Helpers

It’s a little-known fact that Santa Claus lives on Chelsea.

For the last three years, Santa and his helpers at the Oasis of Hope Toy Store have made Christmas a possibility for over 850 North Memphis families.

The store is not open to the general public but is “designed for neighborhood families and those in significant financial need,” says Oasis of Hope chairman Tom Capon. With much of the store’s merchandise donated by members of Hope Presbyterian Church in Cordova, the store offers name-brand toys to disadvantaged families at an affordable price.

“Our desire is for North Memphis residents to have a quality neighborhood outlet to purchase Christmas gifts for their children,” says Capon. “The gratification people express at being able to provide for their families and themselves is immeasurable.”

Toys that retail for $10 at area stores cost about $3 at Oasis, while pricier items, those in the $50 to $75 range, sell for about $20.

Oasis staff work with area schools and community centers to compile the store’s invitation list, which is sent out to select families each year in mid-November. And even though shoppers save an average 70 percent off the retail price, Oasis staff members are adamant that toys should never simply be given away.

Former Hope Urban Ministries head and Oasis of Hope architect Cornelius Sanders envisioned the store as a way for people to earn something for their families and to create a sense of satisfaction that they could take pride in.

Pamela Chambers-Hill, the 2006 marketing chairman for the church’s Toys of Hope program, says she started helping because the program reached out to a group of people who are often overlooked during the holiday season. “There are a lot of programs out there that target the very, very poor. Meanwhile, people who are working hard to make ends meet get lost in the shuffle,” she says. “Not everybody qualifies for giveaways.”