Divas’ Dishes, Auction Help Battle Diabetes
By Carolyn Guniss, The Miami Herald
Feb. 24–Samantha Shanken found out in 1989 she had Type 1 diabetes, the insulin dependent kind.
She was 19 years old when she was diagnosed with what is also known as juvenile diabetes.
“It changes your life,” Shanken said. “There is not one day that goes by without you thinking about diabetes.”
So it wasn’t hard for the vice president of market development for Wine Spectator/Cigar Aficionado magazines to come up with a charity to benefit from an auction Thursday evening at the D’Vine Divas dinner at the Biltmore Hotel.
Shanken decided to bring the auction that she hosts up north to the 2008 South Beach Wine & Food Festival to benefit the Diabetes Research Institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
And as a sponsor of the food festival, the magazine wanted to host a signature event for its readers. The Biltmore delivered.
Over on South Beach, throngs of people were attending Rachael Ray’s Burger Bash, but Shanken said the sophistication of the four-course sit-down dinner with wine pairings is what they wanted for the charity event.
“The great venue; the wine pairings made a lot of people buy tickets to support the research institute,” Shanken said. “This is what they know.”
The sold-out, first-time event featured food prepared by local and national female chefs, and auction items, which varied from a wok lesson from Eleanor Hoh to a signed, framed Bruce Springsteen guitar.
Risa Pulver, who also has Type 1 diabetes, couldn’t decide on which item at the auction to bid. She finally wrote her name on a sheet for an orange Kitchen Aid stand mixer.
“There are a lot of great items,” she gushed.
Dr. Camillo Ricordi, scientific director and chief academic officer of the Diabetes Research Institute, who was at the dinner, said finding a cure for diabetes takes research, and research takes money.
“It takes . . . millions a year to run the institute and every dollar counts,” Ricordi said. “We are thankful for this event.”
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