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Taste of Lee brings flavors to downtown Fort Myers benefiting local nonprofit

Explore the flavors of Southwest Florida’s backyard with the Taste of Lee food festival, hosted by Businesses Supporting Communities, LLC. This one-day event presented by title sponsor WINK News features Lee County’s best restaurants as they offer samples of their popular menu items, priced between $1 and $5. Taste of Lee will be held from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Nov. 7, at Centennial Park in downtown Fort Myers.
Taste of Lee will be benefiting Caleb’s Crusade against childhood cancer. Caleb’s Crusade is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which provides financial assistance for families affected by childhood cancer via direct bill pay, gift cards for groceries or gas and occasionally cash assistance. Founders Rob and Monique Whan started Caleb’s Crusade as a way to honor their son Caleb, who passed away from leukemia 11 days after his fourth birthday.

Rob said Caleb’s Crusade will get all the proceeds from beverage sales. They will also have a 50/50 raffle, as well as a prize raffle with theme park tickets and trips.
“These should contribute to a significant sum for this event,” he said. “We are hoping for over $10,000.”
The Whan family and the Caleb’s Crusade team work one- on-one with their volunteers, and have many different aspects to their foundation.
“We have all kinds of different volunteer opportunities, from staffing events to working on committees or helping us shape up news ideas and events,” Rob Whan said. “We are on a huge campaign to staff over 100 volunteers for the WINK Taste of Lee.”

More than 50 local restaurants and businesses will attend as a way to attract new customers to their businesses. A festival guide will be provided at any of the ticket booths, with restaurant particpants including BurgerQue, Pinchers Crab Shack, Longhorn Steakhouse, Blu Sushi, Famous Dave’s and many more. Dive into delicious dishes such as cheesy crab nachos, smoked chicken wings, peanut butter cheesecake and Zulu shrimp.

“This is our second year hosting the event. We exceeded our expectations last year with over 5,000 people, and we are expecting more,” said Danielle Gates, owner of Businesses Supporting Communities.
Among the great food, there will be entertainment with a kids area, live music by performers Grayson Rogers, High Five Friday and Bite the Bullet. Local sponsors include Wawa, Budweiser, WXCW, MundoFox, Panther Printing, Premiere Wellness Group and more.

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If you are interested in volunteering for Caleb’s Crusade during Taste Of Lee, visit www. calebscrusade.org/volunteer/

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