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Elevating a taste for local charity

Taking fine dining to new heights and helping children is the goal of Theo’s at 10,000 Feet.
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Nikos Theodosakis of Theo’s Restaurant offers up a bottle of wine to table guests

Taking fine dining to new heights and helping children is the goal of Theo’s at 10,000 Feet.

For 20 years Theo’s Restaurant and Eclipse Helicopters and many other local businesses have combined to give four lucky people the experience of a lifetime for the price of a raffle ticket.

The beneficiaries of this generous work are the thousands of youngsters helped by the OSNS Child Development Centre.

There are still plenty of tickets left for this year’s Sept. 19 draw at Theo’s and centre executive director Manisha Willms is anxiously hoping more will be sold before then.

“As many people know, we struggle to have enough funds to run our programs and having these community partnerships is actually our lifeline,” said Willms. “Without those who support us, either through the telethon or buying the tickets for our raffles, we would not be able to do the work we do.

“We have a lot of kids in our society who struggle. Part of the centre’s mandate is to make sure people understand that these children should not be marginalized, that they actually have gifts beyond anyone’s imagination.”

Giving kids the confidence to function in society, to make friends and feel like they belong is the centre’s key role.

Rob Campbell of Penticton was the 2013 winner and he and three others made the sky-high adventure last June.

“It’s a lot of fun and there’s no better place to have a lunch,” he said that day on the mountain top. “It’s such a great cause and if people don’t buy tickets in the community it doesn’t happen. It’s a great thing.”

Theo’s owner Nikos Theodosakis is happy to help such a worthwhile cause.

“It’s fun to be able to lend our resources to something that is such a win-win event,” he said. “It showcases OSNS in terms of being such a resource in the community and not just our community, up and down the valley.”

He added what makes the event special is that it is not just a picnic but a multi-course menu with wine pairings (with Naramata Bench selects) formal dining features and even live music.

Derek Robinson of Eclipse Helicopters transports everything and everyone (including the chef and guests) to the site and even provides some  entertainment.

“Anything I can do for kids like this is worth it,” he said. “It’s awesome to give back and seeing people having so much fun is the highlight of my life.”

For ticket information contact the centre at 250-492-0295.