Wine Dinner At Arnie Morton's The Steakhouse Honored Robina Suwol While Benefitting American Red Cross
August 02, 2007 — By California Safe Schools
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — On July 26, Arnie Morton's, The Steakhouse in downtown Los Angeles partnered with the American Red Cross and Denise Shurtleff, Winemaker at Cambria Winery, to honor America's "Women of Spirit." This event was part of Morton's The Steakhouse's exclusive "Women of Spirit" wine dinners being held at Morton's restaurants in 38 cities from coast to coast.
Denise Shurtleff oversees all aspects of winemaking at the Cambria Winery estate, which has a reputation for producing lush, tropical Chardonnay, velvety-textured Pinot Noir and rich, spicy Syrah. In addition to spotlighting Denise Shurtleff, this event honored Robina Suwol, a local woman from the Los Angeles area who has shown exceptional commitment to volunteerism and service.
Robina Suwol is the Founder and Executive Director of California Safe Schools (CSS), a nationally celebrated children's environmental health non-profit coalition of over fifty organizations located in Southern California committed to the health and safety of children, staff and community members who reside near school sites.
CSS is nationally and internationally recognized for spearheading the most stringent pesticide policy in the nation at Los Angeles Unified School District (the second largest in the nation). This policy called Integrated Pest Management Policy (IPM), uses low risk methods to eliminate pest and weeds. The policy was the first in the United States to embrace the Precautionary Principle and Parents Right to Know about pesticides used on school campuses. Today it has become the model for school districts internationally.
On October 6, 2005, Governor Schwarzenegger signed AB 405 (Montanez) sponsored by California Safe Schools. This law closes a loophole protecting more than 6 million California K-12 public school students, and hundreds of thousands of teachers and school employees from exposure to experimental pesticides whose health effects are unknown. Since founding CSS, Suwol has achieved national prominence as an environmental and children's health activist. An articulate and compelling speaker, Suwol gives frequent presentations on safety to parents, students, school officials and legislators.
To date, the "Women of Spirit" wine dinners have raised more than $100,000 for American Red Cross chapters nationwide. The 38-city "Women of Spirit" wine dinner tour will conclude in late September with an "all-star" gala event honoring America's "Women of Spirit" and the American Red Cross, to be held in Washington, DC, at the Morton's in Georgetown, which will also be celebrating its 25th anniversary.
This culmination event promises to attract an RSVP list of nationally known political, entertainment and media personalities.
Contact Info:
Robina Suwol
Executive Director, California Safe
Schools
Tel : 818-785-5515
