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Food vendors hope to raise $175,000 or more for All Children's Hospital this weekend at the annual Taste of Pinellas.
By DEBORAH HIRSCH
© St. Petersburg Times, published May 30, 2002
ST. PETERSBURG -- For restaurant owner Peter Veytia, Taste of Pinellas represents three days of heat and hard work.
Veytia, owner of Adobo Grill and Red Mesa, has to organize a 35-person volunteer team to cook and serve roast pork verde and fish tacos in tents at Vinoy Park, while still keeping his restaurants running as usual.
"It's a big challenge, but it's something we consider a labor of love," Veytia said. "Usually it's a break-even situation from a business standpoint, (but) it's time well worth the effort, especially for the cause."
Food vendors like Veytia expect to raise $175,000 or more this weekend for All Children's Hospital by selling samples of their wares at Taste of Pinellas. At least half of the proceeds from food sales goes directly to the hospital. Some vendors donate more.
"It's hot out there, but nobody minds breaking a sweat for All Children's," said Kai Sonnenschein, general manager of the Wine Cellar, which recruits family members and regular customers to help in its booth.
The Taste of Pinellas takes place during the first weekend of June each year to coincide with a national telethon, broadcast in 180 markets, that raises money for children's hospitals around the world.
The 22-hour telethon, which can be seen 8:30 p.m. Saturday to 6:30 p.m. Sunday on WFLA-Ch. 8, last year raised $3.8-million for the St. Petersburg hospital. "Children's hospitals depend on donations, they always have," said Joel Momberg, executive vice president of the All Children's Hospital Foundation. "A lot of the kids we treat are indigent, Medicare, Medicaid. We turn no one away. And when a child comes in, the cost is going to be great."
Besides raising money, Momberg said, the Taste of Pinellas helps spread the word in the community about All Children's services. And it's good publicity for the restaurants, he said. "They get a great deal of exposure," Momberg said. "It's a big friend raiser."
Said Veytia, "It's a very nice spirit of cooperation, and I think that everybody that's there, whether they're working as volunteers or tasting as participants, I think knowing it's All Children's is what makes it such an enjoyable thing to go to."
The event kicks off at 5 p.m. Friday and continues all day Saturday and Sunday.
There are a few new rules this year: no coolers or animals will be allowed. And, for the first time, a $3 admission fee for adults will be charged on Saturday and Sunday.