TO THE LIGHTHOUSE- Children at the Lighthouse Orphanage in Cambodia will benefit from the funds raised by Aaron Horwitz and Bryan Wiedenheft's holiday dinner party. The $1,011 donated can provide the children with fruit for over a year, vegetables for 126 days, medication for a year or 10 months' worth of electricity. High school buddies host dinner
By Stephanie Bertholdo bertholdo@theacorn.com
Two former local students found an ingenious way to raise funds for charity. Simply host a dinner party, charge guests for the feast and channel the money raised to worthy causes.
Aaron Horwitz, an Agoura High School alum, and Bryan Wiedenheft, who attended Oak Park High, have been putting a twist on traditional dinner parties for two years running. They hope their idea will catch on with local residents so that yearround feasts will generate big bucks for a variety of charities.
The dinners, held in November, are framed around a holiday theme, said Horwitz. According to his blog, the feast is a "post- Thanksgiving, mid-Hanukkah, pre-Christmas feast-of-the-year extravaganza."
In 2006, the 25-year-olds raised money for School on Wheels, a Malibubased nonprofit organization that helps underprivileged children. But after reimbursing their parents for the cost of food, what was left of the donations didn't add up to as much as they had hoped.
More than twice as many people attended the 2007 feast at Wiedenheft's parents' Oak Park home. The turnout was so unexpectedly large that Horwitz and Wiedenheft plan to rent a banquet hall when the time arrives for their third annual end-of-the-year feast.
Horwitz said he learned about the Lighthouse Orphanage while backpacking in Southeast Asia. During his travels he met people from Canada and England who had volunteered at the orphanage. "We decided this year we wanted to (help) a charity where the money would go further," Horwitz said.
Indeed, the $1,011 raised at the last feast will go a long way in Cambodia. According to a financial breakdown provided by Lighthouse Orphanage, the money will provide the entire orphanage with fruit for 366 days, vegetables for 126 days, or medication for all the children for a full year, or could pay the orphanage's electricity bill for 10 months. Four children could attend school for a year on $1,000, or the money could clothe 25 children for 18 months.
"Lighthouse Orphanage traditionally averages about $5,000 in donations per year, total," Horwitz said. "And we just raised more than 20 percent of that."
Wiedenheft said traveling made him much more aware of the plight of the poor in other parts of the world.
Jeremy Goldberg, a friend of the dinner party masterminds, said the paid feasts were not intended simply to raise awareness and money for the orphanage, but to show citizens "just how easy it is to change the world.
"It sounds naive and a bit fanciful, but this one dinner instigated by two local youths has made a vast difference in the lives of many children halfway around the world," Goldberg said. "Their efforts are admirable, altruistic, and increasingly rare in today's society."
Horwitz and Wiedenheft charged each guest $15 for a culturally diverse feast of ham, turkey, pasta, latkes and a variety of other delectable dishes cooked by the hosts and their helpers.
After dinner, the crowd of more than 50 moved on to attend a party in the Hollywood Hills, where the cans and bottles used were recycled to generate even more money for the orphanage, Goldberg said.
Wiedenheft, who works in the film industry, said he and Horwitz, who's completing classes in fire protection, technology and administration at Cal State University Los Angeles, plan to continue their support of the orphanage.
To donate money to Lighthouse Orphanage, or for advice on hosting a similar fundraiser, contact Horwitz by e-mail at aaronhorwitz@gmail.com.
Aaron Horwitz, an Agoura High School alum, and Bryan Wiedenheft, who attended Oak Park High, have been putting a twist on traditional dinner parties for two years running. They hope their idea will catch on with local residents so that yearround feasts will generate big bucks for a variety of charities.
The dinners, held in November, are framed around a holiday theme, said Horwitz. According to his blog, the feast is a "post- Thanksgiving, mid-Hanukkah, pre-Christmas feast-of-the-year extravaganza."
In 2006, the 25-year-olds raised money for School on Wheels, a Malibubased nonprofit organization that helps underprivileged children. But after reimbursing their parents for the cost of food, what was left of the donations didn't add up to as much as they had hoped.
More than twice as many people attended the 2007 feast at Wiedenheft's parents' Oak Park home. The turnout was so unexpectedly large that Horwitz and Wiedenheft plan to rent a banquet hall when the time arrives for their third annual end-of-the-year feast.
Horwitz said he learned about the Lighthouse Orphanage while backpacking in Southeast Asia. During his travels he met people from Canada and England who had volunteered at the orphanage. "We decided this year we wanted to (help) a charity where the money would go further," Horwitz said.
Indeed, the $1,011 raised at the last feast will go a long way in Cambodia. According to a financial breakdown provided by Lighthouse Orphanage, the money will provide the entire orphanage with fruit for 366 days, vegetables for 126 days, or medication for all the children for a full year, or could pay the orphanage's electricity bill for 10 months. Four children could attend school for a year on $1,000, or the money could clothe 25 children for 18 months.
"Lighthouse Orphanage traditionally averages about $5,000 in donations per year, total," Horwitz said. "And we just raised more than 20 percent of that."
Wiedenheft said traveling made him much more aware of the plight of the poor in other parts of the world.
Jeremy Goldberg, a friend of the dinner party masterminds, said the paid feasts were not intended simply to raise awareness and money for the orphanage, but to show citizens "just how easy it is to change the world.
"It sounds naive and a bit fanciful, but this one dinner instigated by two local youths has made a vast difference in the lives of many children halfway around the world," Goldberg said. "Their efforts are admirable, altruistic, and increasingly rare in today's society."
Horwitz and Wiedenheft charged each guest $15 for a culturally diverse feast of ham, turkey, pasta, latkes and a variety of other delectable dishes cooked by the hosts and their helpers.
After dinner, the crowd of more than 50 moved on to attend a party in the Hollywood Hills, where the cans and bottles used were recycled to generate even more money for the orphanage, Goldberg said.
Wiedenheft, who works in the film industry, said he and Horwitz, who's completing classes in fire protection, technology and administration at Cal State University Los Angeles, plan to continue their support of the orphanage.
To donate money to Lighthouse Orphanage, or for advice on hosting a similar fundraiser, contact Horwitz by e-mail at aaronhorwitz@gmail.com.
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