The ELIJA Foundation is hosting its first virtual wine event, called Raising Spirits. The event is set to take place on Oct. 30 from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. The ELIJA Foundation works with children and young adults who are on the autism spectrum. ELIJA stands for Empowering Long Islands Journey through Autism. Jodi Taggart, the director of development at ELIJA Foundation said the event has a lot of exciting things in store for attendees.
“People will log on to a virtual wine tasting, being run by Michael Green who is a sommelier and wine enthusiast,” she said. “[The event] is also going to have a tour of the vineyards in Italy with a fifth-generation wine maker Giovanni Gaja.”
The money raised from this event is a fundraiser for the foundation. Taggart said the money raised goes towards programming for the kids ELIJA Foundation serves. Technology has served a big role in how an event such as this was able to be established.
It’s going to be interactive,” Taggart said. “You’re going to enter a room and there could be up to 200 people participating in the event who could raise their hands in the chatroom. You can talk about what you’re eating and drinking.”
People who attend the event can be from out of state as ELIJA foundation is shipping the wine directly to an attendee’s door so they are ready to taste and sip during the event.
“It’s kind of nice cause you have the ability to send wines and cheeses a week ahead of time so that everybody can get together during these crazy times,” she said. “It’s not certainly the same as if you’re dressed up at an event, but it’s kind of nice for people-especially if you’re talking about wine tasting-because then you don’t have to worry about transportation back. You’re in the comfort of your own home.”
ELIJA Foundation hopes to do more events like this in the future, as there is much opportunities to be had vritually.
“I honestly think the virtual wine tasting could be a keeper,” Taggart explained. “I have a lot of people for the first time signing up to do this with us who’ve never participated in any other event that we had. Not only has the lockdown and the coronavirus and social distancing has had a negative impact on people, I think this particular virtual event has been jazzing people up. I think that it’s exciting for people to be able to enjoy something.”
ELIJA Foundation is located in Levittown. To learn more about how to register for the event, contact Jodi Taggart at jodi.taggart@elija.org To learn more about ELIJA Foundation and the services they provide, visit www.elija.org.
