AbilityFirst President and CEO Sergio Rizzo-Fontanesi and Event Host Mary Urquhart at AbilityFirst's 52nd Annual Food and Wine Festival [Paul Takizawa/Pasadena Now]
Event Host Mary Urquhart, Gale Kohl, L.A. County Supervisor and Honoree Kathryn Barger and Sussy Nemer at AbilityFirst's 52nd Annual Food and Wine Festival [Paul Takizawa/Pasadena Now]
Nancy Longo and Event Co-Chair Mary Spellman at AbilityFirst's 52nd Annual Food and Wine Festival [Paul Takizawa/Pasadena Now]
Julietta Perez, Event Co-Chair Anita Lawler, Ylianna Guerrero and Michelle Mendez at AbilityFirst's 52nd Annual Food and Wine Festival [Paul Takizawa/Pasadena Now]
Candis Bowles and Hanna Portillo at AbilityFirst's 52nd Annual Food and Wine Festival [Paul Takizawa/Pasadena Now]
Jon Mochisuki, Jason Sutliff and Ellen Mochisuki at AbilityFirst's 52nd Annual Food and Wine Festival [Paul Takizawa/Pasadena Now]
Honoree Susie Frank and Jeff D’Angelo at AbilityFirst's 52nd Annual Food and Wine Festival [Paul Takizawa/Pasadena Now]
Carol Llewellyn, Honoree Richard Frank and Gale Kohl at AbilityFirst's 52nd Annual Food and Wine Festival [Paul Takizawa/Pasadena Now]
John Anthony and Liana Pogosyan at AbilityFirst's 52nd Annual Food and Wine Festival [Paul Takizawa/Pasadena Now]
Frederico Roth, Jacqueline Roth, Kirsten Oh, Lisa Pelayo and David Pelayo at AbilityFirst's 52nd Annual Food and Wine Festival [Paul Takizawa/Pasadena Now]
Vanessa Reta and Ellecia Purvis at AbilityFirst's 52nd Annual Food and Wine Festival [Paul Takizawa/Pasadena Now]
Michael Barkyoumb, Aileen Barkyoumb, Azita Fatheree and George Fatheree at AbilityFirst's 52nd Annual Food and Wine Festival [Paul Takizawa/Pasadena Now]
Lucio Rodriguez and Jennifer Marinov at AbilityFirst's 52nd Annual Food and Wine Festival [Paul Takizawa/Pasadena Now]
Liz Yee, Jessica Montero and Gabriel Wilson at AbilityFirst's 52nd Annual Food and Wine Festival [Paul Takizawa/Pasadena Now]
Katie Christiansen and Claudia Kim at AbilityFirst's 52nd Annual Food and Wine Festival [Paul Takizawa/Pasadena Now]
Kelly Privitt, Kelly Kavanaugh and Chris Otero at AbilityFirst's 52nd Annual Food and Wine Festival [Paul Takizawa/Pasadena Now]
Robert Cowan and Kevin Stanton-Trehan at AbilityFirst's 52nd Annual Food and Wine Festival [Paul Takizawa/Pasadena Now]
David Russo, Melanie Sauer, Luther Beegle and Khan Russo at AbilityFirst's 52nd Annual Food and Wine Festival [Paul Takizawa/Pasadena Now]
Nicole Mackey and Jessie Lopez at AbilityFirst's 52nd Annual Food and Wine Festival [Paul Takizawa/Pasadena Now]
The lawns of the Urquhart residence in South Pasadena have hosted AbilityFirst’s Food and Wine Festival for more than a few years now, and by Saturday evening it was clear the setting had earned its place in the event’s tradition. Hundreds gathered on the great lawn as the sun dropped behind the San Gabriel Mountains. Vineyard pours and tequila tastings made the rounds. Brownies competed quietly with puttanesca for the evening’s most-reached-for bite.
The occasion was the 52nd annual festival, and it carried extra weight this year. AbilityFirst, which provides programs and services to children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities across Southern California, turned one hundred. The organization runs after-school programs, day programs, residential services, and Camp Paivika in the San Bernardino Mountains, a camp for individuals with physical and developmental disabilities that has been operating since 1947. At the time of this writing the Food and Wine Festival raised over $485,000.00 and they are still counting!
Sergio Rizzo-Fontanesi, entering his third year as the organization’s president and CEO, said reaching a century was no accident. “It takes commitment and grit,” he said. “That continues to surprise and inspire me.”
The evening honored partners whose ties to AbilityFirst run deep: The Frank Family, LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, Comerica Bank and LA Rotary5.
The Frank family has been involved since the beginning. Lawrence L. Frank served as the organization’s founding chairman from 1926 to 1947. Subsequent generations followed. Richard Frank, honored Saturday alongside his family, joined the board the first time he was approached and stayed because of what he saw. “When I saw the hard work that was being done and the amazing work that the staff does,” he said, “that kindled my passion for the organization.”
Los Angeles County Fifth District Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who is retiring from her position and has been a supporter of AbilityFirst for most of her public life, remembered the organization from childhood, recalling visits to their location on Del Mar. “I have friends who have used AbilityFirst with their kids,” she said. “I’ve seen firsthand the lives that have been changed.” She paused. “Disability is actually more, and that’s why I love the name. Ability first.”
Gale Kohl, a restaurateur who has supported the organization for more than thirty years, put it plainly. “I believe in what they do. They do it with grace. They do it efficiently. They help so many people. How could I not help?”
The live auction offered Las Vegas getaways, a day at Santa Anita, vineyard visits, and a private dinner at Lawry’s, whose parent company, the Frank family’s Lawry’s Restaurants, Inc., has been woven into AbilityFirst’s history for nearly the full hundred years. The bidding was spirited.
Out on the lawn, a young AbilityFirst client approached a reporter and said he remembered him from last year’s event. It was a small moment, the kind of moment AbilityFirst has been quietly producing, one person at a time, for a century.
