On Sunday, October 17th, Wells Bring Hope’s founder and president Barbara Goldberg welcomed 75 fully-vaccinated supporters to her home for the organization’s 13th Annual Fundraiser. Inspired by Barbara’s beautiful home and serene backyard, the theme was “Sunday in a Japanese Garden.”

To carry out the theme, there was a dedicated sake bar, with guests sampling six sakes. The main bar featured a specialty cocktail, the Sakura, which means cherry blossom, in Japanese. Japanese calligrapher, Mimi Wada was on hand to design individual works of art for each guest, and the Japanese Music Ensemble entertained the crowd with classical Japanese melodies on koto and shamisen.

Guests nibbled on delicious Japanese fusion cuisine from TGIS Catering and sipped wine donated by Le Vigne Winery. While everyone mixed and mingled, our very capable volunteers enticed guests to participate in the silent auction, tempting them with trips to Sedona, San Francisco, and New York, dining at Cassia and Vincenti, and more.

During the live auction later in the evening, guests got the chance to bid on more exciting travel packages including trips to Belize, Puerto Vallarta, Park City and the Florida Keys, as well as a wine-tasting getaway to Paso Robles and a relaxing spa stay in Palm Springs. Special thanks to auctioneer extraordinaire, Clint Hufft, who made parting with one’s money a fun-time for all! And no WBH event would be complete without Gil Garcetti, the man who inspired its start!

Barbara opened the program by announcing that, effective September 1, Wells Bring Hope has transitioned to solar-powered mechanized wells, which deliver clean water by simply turning on a tap.  By eliminating the need to use a hand pump to bring up water from a well, women are now free of this burdensome task. Importantly, getting water is no longer the responsibility of women and girls—everyone does it!

Thank you to all who came to support Wells Bring Hope’s effort to save lives with safe water! Thanks to our generous donors and our partners, Panda Restaurant Group, World Vision and Bliss Car Wash for their tremendous support. We also want to thank our very capable volunteers, our photographer Tatsu, and our event planner, Peggy Kelley of Timeless Celebrations who made the event a tremendous success! Thanks to this incredible team effort, 20 more villages in Niger will experience the transformative power of a safe water well.

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