Oaxaca-Ganza, Fundraiser for the school in Zaachila, Oct 18

SACRED Presents: Oaxaca-Ganza
A fundraiser for El Manantial Telesecundariain in Zaachila, Oaxaca, Mexico

LTH,

As many of you know, I was profoundly affected by my trip to Oaxaca earlier this year. Having never been there before, I was blown away by just about everything I encountered in the region, but no more so than by the people I met there. They’re kind, family-oriented and hard-working, and in spite of how little most of them have, they manage to maintain a joyous outlook on life that should be an example for all of us.

One place in Oaxaca that truly inspired me was the community known as Villa de Zaachila. This settlement, comprised mostly of lean-to’s and other bare-bones structures, is home to some of the most impoverished people in Oaxaca. This community has developed around – and on top – of a regional garbage dump that was started illegally but later legalized in 1986 — families came to collect recyclables from the dump, to earn money, and squatted on the land to be close to their income source. Today, Zaachila hosts the only legal garbage dump for Oaxaca City and somewhere between 500 and 1,000 tons of trash is deposited there on a daily basis. The immense and ever-growing mound is visible from just about everywhere within the settlement. And yet, in its shadow, this vibrant community has continued to develop.

But life is hard there. Because residents are squatting, the government provides very limited services. Most of the residents do not have sufficient water, electricity or drainage services. And because of its proximity to the dump, health problems due to contaminated ground water and airborne bacteria are common. But there is hope. Within this community is El Manantial Telesecundaria. . . a middle school that is doing great work, and which needs our help.

SACRED, a 501c3 Not-for-Profit charitable organization of which I am a board member, has teamed up with a programmatic organization in Mexico, SiKanda, to assist this school, its students and their families by providing scholarships, school supplies and other needed assistance. As we all know, education is the key to affecting lasting change and after my visit, I decided to make it my personal mission to do all I could to help this school and the families who are a part of it. SACRED’s mission is to improve the quality of life for our entire species, and our belief is that improving life for children in rural Mexico will benefit all human beings.

To those ends, on Thursday October 18th, 2018, we will be holding a fundraising event at Sleeping Village for El Manantial Telesecundaria, and I very much hope you can attend. My friends at SV – Billy Helmkamp, Rob Brenner and Eric Henry – have generously donated their state-of-the-art performance space to us for the night.

And on that note, I’m excited to let you know that, of course, the festivities will include some great live music, generously donated by my friend Tim Thompson and his appropriately-named band, Not For Profit. Additionally, food will be provided by Prairie Grass Café: two-time James Beard Award-winning chef Sarah Stegner and her partner, chef George Bumbaris. And on top of that, agave spirits enthusiast Lou Bank – SACRED’s board chairman – will be on-hand to pour tasting samples of a bevy of exquisite agave spirits that are not commercially available in the U.S. We’ll also have a drawing at which several great prizes can be won, including bottles of some of the aforementioned spirits.

We’ll also have a short presentation about our cause, so that everyone in attendance can be well-informed about how their donations will be allocated. 100% of all the proceeds from this event will go directly to SiKanda’s funding of the school.

There is no end to the need at Zaachila and no amount we can give that is enough but because of this, every bit of help makes a significant difference in the lives of the families that live there. I sincerely hope you’ll join us at Sleeping Village on October 18th for what promises to be a great night. You can purchase tickets by following the link below. And even if you cannot attend, I urge you to make a generous donation to the cause, which you can also do by following the link below.

Thank you,

=R=

SACRED's Oaxaca-Ganza
Thursday October 18th
Sleeping Village
3734 W Belmont Ave
Chicago, IL 60618
773-654-3971
7:00 – 10:00 pm
Tickets here
Donations here
Facebook Event Page

Just wanted to update this with some new information . . .

Menu:
Vegetable Crudite Platter with chips, guacamole with bacon
Sandwiches with Butterkase, Soppressata, Sliced Ham & Spicy Homemade Pepper-Cauliflower-Carrot Relish
Prosciutto-wrapped Crostini with whipped feta and fig jam
Cold, Sliced New York Strip with sliced tomatoes, grilled jalapenos, pickled onions, mini buns
Shrimp Cocktail
Chocolate Cupcakes
Pumpkin Pie Squares
Menu is subject to change. Vegetarian options will be available.

And here are a few of the drawing prizes that have been generously donated by our friends and sponsors . . .

Lou Bank - Private tasting of agave spirits for 4 people
Lou Bank - Half-gallon jug of heirloom agave spirit, unavailable commercially
=R= - 750 ml bottle of heirloom agave spirit, unavailable commercially, that I personally muled back from Oaxaca
Dark Matter - Coffees and beers made with their coffees, including Dark Lord
Pipe Works Brewing Co. - Private tour with barrel-aged tasting for up to 5 people, plus a swag bag of merchandise, and beer to take home
Smoque BBQ - Chef’s Dinner for 4. A family-style feast featuring their entire menu and served personally by Barry Sorkin himself or one of his partners
Lula Cafe - Dinner for 4 plus wine pairings
Dove's Luncheonette - Dinner for 4 with mezcal tasting
Green City Market - 2 passes to the 2019 GCM Chef BBQ event (July 2019) and a copy of the Green City Market Cookbook
Billy Sunday - Vintage Fernet tasting for 4 at Billy Sunday
Scofflaw - Guided gin tasting with Danny Shapiro
Heavy Feather - Guided whiskey tasting with Rory Toolan
The Moonlighter - $100 gift card
Slippery Slope - 1-week naming rights to a cocktail on their menu
Todos Santos - Guided mezcal tasting for 4 by Jay Schroeder
Giant in Logan Square - $100 gift card
Mezcal Vago - Agave Spirits and swag
Estereo & Ludlow Liquors - Gift cards from each place
Toons, Pearls Southern Comfort & Beck's Chicago - Gift cards from each place
The Radler - A pretzel rolling class for 4 people, including beers to drink during the class and pretzels to take home
Chema Skandal an original piece of agave-related art
Gary Wiviott - signed Low & Slow cook books, Volumes 1 and 2
Tom Keith - A variety of homebrews
Chef Alan Lake - A customized meal for 4, cooked at your home
SACRED - Our Lady of Maguey print

Plus, the first 50 people to arrive will receive SACRED clay copitas to use at the event and take home.

=R=

Tickets here
Donations here
Facebook Event Page

Very disappointed that I have to be traveling for work this evening . . . sounds like a great event, even without all the prizes. Great organization!

BR wrote:Very disappointed that I have to be traveling for work this evening . . . sounds like a great event, even without all the prizes. Great organization!

Really sorry you won't be able to make it, Brad. Hopefully, some other LTHers will be able to come out and support this worthy cause.

It's going to be a really fun night. And yes, I think we have a great line-up of prizes but you're right. It's not really about that. I was just glad to see that so many local businesses were willing to assist our efforts to make something happen for this community and these children. Visiting Zaachila inspired me. I came back from there vowing to do whatever I could to help, and this event is just a part of that effort.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

BR wrote: Hopefully, some other LTHers will be able to come out and support this worthy cause.

I plan on being there. I’m really looking forward to it!

SACRED's executive director Lou Bank was interviewed on NPR's Worldview yesterday. He discussed SACRED's mission and also talked a bit about Oaxaca-Ganza, as well as Mexico In A Bottle. You can listen to the segment by clicking the link below . . .

Lou Bank on NPR's Worldview, 18.1004 (<click to listen)

=R=

I'm really happy to let everyone know that we've been selected by our friends at Spilt Milk Tavern (Fullerton & California) as their beneficiary of the month for October. So, when you go there for cocktails, you can designate a portion of your bill to go directly to SACRED.

Additionally, our friends over at the Scofflaw Group have come through with some very nice donations for our drawing, including a Mack Daddy gift card to The Moonlighter, a guided gin tasting with Danny Shapiro at Scofflaw and a guided whiskey tasting with Rory Toolan at Heavy Feather.

And last but certainly not least, our friend Chef Alan Lake -- LTHer Jazzfood -- has donated his culinary wizardry in the form of a customized dinner for 4 to be cooked at the lucky recipient's home.

=R=

Tickets here
Donations here
Facebook Event Page

Great post by Lou Bank over at SACRED's facebook page, which I'll reiterate over here . . .

at SACRED's facebook page, Lou Bank wrote:Sure, you could fly down to Oaxaca, rent a car, drive south to Miahuatlan, and visit Victor and Emanuel Ramos to purchase spirits directly from them. And you should do that. But even if you left today, you wouldn't be able to get this: a half-gallon bottle of Emanuel's Tepextate hybrid. That's gone. No, the only way you can get this is by attending Sacred presents: Oaxaca-Ganza at Sleeping Village and taking your chances.

Emanuel Ramos' Tepextate Hybrid

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:SACRED's executive director Lou Bank was interviewed on NPR's Worldview yesterday. He discussed SACRED's mission and also talked a bit about Oaxaca-Ganza, as well as Mexico In A Bottle. You can listen to the segment by clicking the link below . . .

Lou Bank on NPR's Worldview, 18.1004 (<click to listen)

=R=

Here's a direct link to the interview with Lou at WBEZ's website . . .

Global Activism: Saving Agave for Culture, Recreation, Education, and Development (S.A.C.R.E.D.).

=R=

A wonderful event for a wonderful cause. I'm sure it will be fantastic, would love to attend but will be out of town for work.

G Wiv wrote:A wonderful event for a wonderful cause. I'm sure it will be fantastic, would love to attend but will be out of town for work.

Very sorry that you can't be there, Gary but your contribution is very much appreciated - thanks!

I'm also proud to count Mezcal Vago as a sponsor. They'll be donating some agave spirits and (hopefully) some swag, as well.

=R=

Tickets here
Donations here
Facebook Event Page

ronnie_suburban wrote:Emanuel Ramos' Tepextate Hybrid . . .

Emanuel and Victor Ramos (left to right) in their 'tasting room,' 18.0403

=R=

Here is the tentative list of spirits that will be poured at the event . . .

Rodrigo Cortes
Verde (2017)
Miahuatlan, Oaxaca
The Maguey Verder was roasted in a stone-lined earthen oven, milled by hand using wooden mallets, and fermented open air in wooden barrels. It was distilled in wood-fired copper-pot stills once, with a refrescador.

Eduardo Angeles
Barril (Sep 2017 and Dec 2017)
Santa Catarina Minas, Oaxaca
Two separate expressions produced the same way using the same agave, but one was made during the rainy season, the other during teh dry season. The Maguey Barril was roasted in a stone-lined earthen oven, milled using wooden mallets, fermented open-air in wooden barrels, and distilled using wood-fired clay-pot stills.

Joaquin Solis
Chico Aguiar (March 2018)
Tuito, Jalisco
The Maguey Chico Aguiar was roasted in a stone-lined earthen oven, milled by hand using an ax, fermented in plastic barrels, and distilled in copper with condensors made from tree trunks.

Plus, there will be more . . .

=R=

On the day we visited Zaachila and Manantial Telesecundaria, school was not in session but José Carlos from SiKanda and some of the faculty, including the principal, Professor Xochitl, took us through.


Manantial Telesecundaria
School in the foreground, garbage dump in the background.


José Carlos León Vargas
José Carlos from SiKanda and Professor Xochitl explain a bit about the school's objectives.


Seedling agave plants
Planted recently by the students. They'll eventually be transplanted to individual pots.


Seedlings - a bit further along


More advanced plants in individual pots
At each stage the students, who transplanted these to pots themselves, learn about the plants and the process via hands-on experience.


Even further along


10,000 Tobala Babies
Soon, these plants, which take 10-12 years to mature, will find homes with Maestro Mezcaleros throughout the region. SACRED buys and donates some of them. Others are sold directly by the school to the Maestros. The revenue generated via the sales help perpetuate Manantial Telesecundaria's mission.


Beautiful but hard country

=R=

Tickets here
Donations here
Facebook Event Page

Our friends at Mezcal Vago just threw down a very sweet donation for tomorrow night's event . . .


A couple of lovely Espadins

=R=

Tickets here
Donations here
Facebook Event Page

This recent interview with Lou Bank at The Score, by Rey Diaz, is both inspirational and highly informative . . .

Score Values: Saving Agave for Culture, Recreation, Education, and Development (S.A.C.R.E.D.)

=R=

I just wanted to take a minute to thank all the LTHers -- and everyone else -- who came out and generously supported us on Thursday night. It was a really fun event and we had an excellent turn-out. I'm also very happy to report that we exceeded our best-case prediction on the fundraising, which is great news for the families of Manantial Telesecundaria in Zaachila.


Buffet
We started out with a little food (well, actually a LOT of food) - a very nice throw-down by Prairie Grass Cafe.


Not For Profit
To say the band rocked the house would be an understatement. They were, in a word, awesome.


Prize Table on the left
Plenty of socializing going on.


Some eating, some drinking, some dancing . . .
Well, I danced but hopefully there are no recorded images of that!


Not For Profit
And the band played on . . .

=R=