Our cocktail and mocktail tasting in September was the most popular Hort event we've had since I started co-chairing three years ago. The event filled up the 20 person capacity within a couple of days. So, we added five more places and they were gone in a matter of hours!

Co-chair Lisa Jorgens and I wanted to have a Hort social event to bring the ladies together to kick off the new year. A big thank you to Lisa for suggesting this fun event! I love how she suggested using vegetables and fruits (a Hort tie in wink wink ) to be incorporated into our cocktails and mocktails fun evening. Gayle Schmidt, was such an enthusiastic and knowledgeable speaker, keeping us engaged with funny stories as she macerated her ingredients and incorporated them into yummy libations.

As many of you learned during the evening, Gayle has been making incredibly detailed themed birthday cakes for children who otherwise would not have one. Lisa and I had planned on giving Gayle a money gift from the club as a thank you for all of her work. Instead ,Gayle asked that the club make a donation to Cake-4kids- that's so Gayle. A big thank you to all of the volunteers who helped, including Lisa's friend Maria, and my wonderful husband, Tony, who took care of most of the clean up. - Susan DiStefano