Seventy five people celebrated St. Valentine in style at a dinner-dance held at St. James Church on February 12-and in the process raised more than 1,000 euro for a good cause.
Organized by the American International League Onlus (AILO) of Florence, the party raised funds for two important charity projects sponsored by AILO’s international umbrella organization, Federation of American Women’s Clubs Overseas: Skills for Life, which funds selected organizations around the world that assist women in getting access to education or skills training so they can achieve economic freedom; and Wells for Clean Water, in Cambodia, which works to provide potable water to families whose access to safe water was destroyed during the Pol Pot years.
Those who generously donated their time and effort to make the event a great success include Donald Francis, accompanied by members of his Historical Dance Group from L’Atelier de Danse of Florence, who had everyone out on the dance floor. As in the primetime show, Dancing with the Stars, Francis explained and demonstrated the dance steps from the Ragtime epoch, which, at the beginning of the twentieth century, revolutionized modern music.
The delicious three-course buffet prepared by executive chef Paula Carrier of American Salad Co. and Jocelyn Fitzgerald of AILO, included two types of fresh pasta especially sent from Parma by Filippo Mori of Food Valley, as well as different hors d’oeuvre and desserts prepared by AILO members. The raffle prize, a beautiful floral centrepiece, was donated by La Fioraia in viale Mazzini, Florence.
