Event raises funds for youth and senior causes
Published in the Oct. 15-28, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
Photo by Marty Cheek
Morgan Hill Kiwanis Club member Gary Bannister serves a hearty bowlful of cioppino to a security guard who worked at this year’s fundraiser that supports youth and senior causes.
Morgan Hill and San Martin residents tied plastic bibs around their necks and dug spoons deep into bowls of hearty cioppino to help raise money for the Kiwanis Club of Morgan Hill to support youth and senior citizen causes.
The cioppino was made at Phil’s Fish Market in Moss Landing, which is nationally famous as a seafood destination, said John Varela, a Kiwanis member who helped out at the annual Cioppino Feed event that took place Oct. 4 at the Morgan Hill Masonic Center.
“Phil’s is one of the premiere fish food cuisine in northern California,” he said. “If you go there on any given day, you might stand there sometimes for hours to get your food and then eat it at your table. We buy from Phil’s every year and we give them an estimate of how many people we expect. For example, tonight, we bought enough cioppino to feed 125 people. We think we might have surpassed that number.”
Cioppino is a thick tomato stew in which clams, shrimp and other seafood simmer to give it a robust flavor. Besides cioppino, the Kiwanis served salad, spaghetti pasta, garlic bread and, for dessert, a warm brownie topped with vanilla ice cream and a maraschino cherry. Advanced tickets for the event cost $50 per person or $90 per couple. At the door, tickets cost $55 per person.
“It’s all you can eat. You pay one price,” Varela said. “You see by the room that we’re full. People love it and they keep coming back every year. Everyone who is here has a smile on their face and their bellies are full.”
The event is a favorite tradition for local residents who enjoy the fun banter of eating seafood and watching the seemingly endless presentation of raffle prizes, a highlight of the evening.
“I’ve heard various stories that we’re either celebrating 25 years or 13 years of the Cioppino Feed, so I’m a little conflicted about those numbers,” Varela said. “So let’s go in between somewhere. I’m going to say this is our 20th anniversary.”
The Kiwanis Club of Morgan Hill has evolved over the years and is one of the oldest service clubs in the community, he said. It started in the early 1950s and one of its original members, Ernie Rusconi, who is a former city attorney in Morgan Hill, has been with the club since the very beginning.
The annual Cioppino Feed is the club’s single largest fund-raising event.
“All the money that we make we put back into the community for youth groups and senior citizen groups and education,” Varela said. “None of the money that we bring in from this event stays in the club. We send it all out, and then we start over.”
Each Kiwanis club member identifies a group that he or she would like to support with the raised money. The club then looks at the particular budget to fund those particular groups within the community whether it be the El Toro Youth Center, Community Solutions, or another organization. In the spring, the Kiwanis presents scholarships to graduating high school students to help with their costs of going to college.
The Kiwanis Club also uses the Cioppino Feed event to recruit members to be a part of the service organization.
“We’re a low-key group of guys and women who work well together, and have fun together,” Varela said. “We kind of leave our egos at the door and roll up our sleeves and say, ‘Let’s get to work.’”
The next Kiwanis event is the annual Morgan Hill Holiday Parade that takes place in downtown Morgan Hill on the Saturday evening following Thanksgiving, Varela said.
