Jazz talent brings more than music to local wine-tasting fundraiser

Kendall Lewis, son of jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis and a rising jazz artist in his own right, made a guest appearance at a wine-tasting event earlier this month -- but not to perform.

Instead the younger Lewis mingled with the guests at Rolling Green Country Club in Arlington Heights, all driven by the same cause: to help fund the activity center within Children Memorial Hospital's pediatric oncology department.

This was the second wine tasting hosted by members of the Kids Fight Cancer foundation, based in Arlington Heights.

What started out last year as an impromptu event, hastily added to the foundation's list of fundraising events, this year drew nearly 500 people who arrived to find a night filled with wine, hors d'oeuvres and live music.

"We didn't want this to be a typical wine-tasting event," says Jim Pesoli of Arlington Heights, son of the founder of Kids Fight Cancer. "We wanted this to be high-energy and high impact, a place to meet new people and try new things."

Guests found a selection of 125 bottles of wine, representing eight countries and regions and supplied by 10 different vendors. The four-piece band, DV8 supplied the music -- and the energy.

It proved to be a successful combination. Guests purchased more than $20,000 worth of wine, and raised approximately $25,000 for the organization and its mission, Pesoli said.

He described the event and its $40 price tag as an accessible way to support the cause and enjoy a night out.

"We think of this as a friend-raiser," Pesoli says. "It gives people a night out, without making them feel like they have to dress up in black tie outfits."

Nonetheless, friend-raiser or not, foundation officials still want to grow the event, aiming to make it one of the largest wine tastings in the Northwest suburbs.