So I am here at Unity Gardens in South Bend for a taste of unity with Celina, who is the youth program and events coordinator here at Unity Gardens.

So tell me a little bit about a taste of the unity.

What's going on?

So this is our annual fundraiser.

This is our 13th year doing it.

And it is a beautiful night in the ballroom at Palais Royale downtown.

And we line it with some of the area's best chefs, creating tasty tapas style dishes for guests to be able to enjoy as they go around and around the room.

We also have Silent Auction Live music and a cash bar, so it's a beautiful mix and mingle event that helps us to celebrate our harvest season and get ready for the next year of growing.

I like that it's at the Palais Royale because that's kind of fancy to me.

But yet everything about Unity Gardens is so like hands on, get your hands dirty, but it's a great night to, like, get dressed up and celebrate all that happens here.

Absolutely.

Staff doesn't recognize each other that, hey, we're used to seeing everyone.

That's what your hair looks like when it's, straight in there.

What?

You have a dress on?

Have you seen you wear anything other than pants?

So it's fun.

It's.

It's a night where we get to feel special and celebrate everyone who has helped us in this journey of connecting people to fresh food, nature and one another.

And how much of the actual food is from Unity Gardens or what?

Like, does that or what's the what's the combination there?

So the food is not quite from our gardens because as we're coming into November, the gardens definitely slow down.

But the room is lined with supporters, one of them being Rico Suave, who year after year has supported us in coming to all of our events, donating, funds to our things, supporting our events and sharing them and spreading the word.

So while the food isn't from ours, it is the support of the people in the room that really represents what we grow here at Unity Gardens.

And so tell me a little bit about what the night is like for anyone who hasn't been over the last 12 years in your 13th year now, like, what's the event like?

Like what happens?

How how dressed up do you have to get?

Is it like black tie or is it just just look like you're going for a job interview?

Kind of a dress.

It's not quite black tie.

We do tell people it is a fun time to dress up, but we typically see people anywhere from cocktail dresses to dress shirt and pants.

Some people come in a suit.

I always say you can't overdress.

Sometimes you have to be the pretty person in the room.

But even if you don't have all of those fun things to put on, you just want to spend the night out.

We're happy to see you.

Some people come in Hawaiian shirts, you know, it's just a time to come out, support a great organization and enjoy a lot of good food.

Yeah, I like it.

And then as you go in, you talk about all these topics.

Is it just kind of going around and helping yourself at different tables, or is there a sit down meal or how does that work?

It is around the rooms situation.

So you can go to as many or as little tables as you want.

If you get in the room and you find a table that you really love and you're like, I can never find anything better than this, if that's where you want to stay, that's where you can stay.

But there are so many chefs in the room of all kinds of different culinary experiences.

Like we have a guest house and then we have Rico Suave.

So these are like two different kinds of food being presented to you.

I know that we have four winds bringing in a polenta cake with braised short rib like that.

Just makes me want to start drooling getting excited for it.

So it really is a culinary experience to be able to taste so many different flavors of South Bend in the Michiana area.

And then how important is it like, do you share your mission to people in the room then as well?

Let people know what's going on throughout the year.

We absolutely do.

But it isn't a typical situation where we stand and we talk to the room over and over hours and hours.

It is a celebration.

We have a slideshow showing all of our accomplishments this year, all of the fun moments, all of the funny moments.

We do take some time to introduce the team.

As you know, Unity Gardens started with Sarah Stewart and it has expanded into an incredible team of people working to spread the networks, Unity Gardens.

So we take that time to show who are the faces of Unity Gardens right now and who to talk to if you have any questions.

But really, it is a night of enjoying what we've done together.

Sarah is still here, by the way.

You know, it's just that these segments are only eight minutes long, so that's why we've stopped letting her talk on them, because she goes on and on.

Yeah, we have to dedicate a whole show to her.

Yeah.

No, I'm just kidding.

I will eventually she'll have her own TV show.

She says she'll be so joyful.

We keep her locked in the office nowadays.

Yeah, now.

And I know it's a big team.

And Sarah's obviously great.

And we're obviously making fun, and.

But besides the food, then at that, what's happening after the food?

At this event, we will have music from Kennedy's Kitchen and the six day choir going.

We will have a silent auction going with tons of incredible businesses in our area donating.

So we have places like Ginger Valley, we have the, a loft, donating, a night stay, just whatever you can think of.

It's such a wide array of different people.

And then we have, like I said, that cash bar and then just the mix and mingle event of it.

Tons of sponsors have come in Amazon, Michiana Veg Fest.

We have different places like KeyBank, United Federal Credit Union who have all joined us that evening to share that night and support us.

So you'll get to see all of these different places in our community.

I love silent auctions, I do too.

I also love the fact that even though you pay for it, they say you won.

Yeah.

And I'm like, no, I just like pay twice as much as it's worth and I don't adrenaline rush from it.

I'm like, oh my gosh, I need another video down.

I kind of want to know who the person is across the room that I'm bidding against, just so I can stare at them while I'm doing it.

Keep an eye on.

I will go up in a $5 increment against you and like, you know, make it super intense.

But I love silent auctions.

I just became the like, season ticket holder of Notre Dame's women's basketball team.

Yeah.

Did you know just because no one else was bidding on it?

So I decided to auction.

Now I'm going to go.

To me, it's like the money doesn't feel like a big expense, because I know it's going to a good cause.

It's an auction.

So I'm like, I can throw another $5.

That's another $5, you know, that's fine.

And so you mentioned it's not Palais Royale de vie individual tickets or do you buy a full table or how does that work for people?

Because a lot of these events are like, buy a full table.

Yeah.

You can buy individual tickets on Eventbrite under Taste of Unity on the website, and they are $50 a ticket.

And like I said, that gets you a night going round and round the room and the music and the cash bar.

It's just a beautiful time.

So the tickets are on Eventbrite.

If you want to learn more about the event and see pictures from last year, see who's supporting this year.

You can go to our website at Unity Gardens.

And just find the Taste of Unity tab.

It's right on our home screen.

And all this money being raised, what's it used for is there's just going to general programing, general funds, start the year.

How much of a fundraiser is it for you guys compared to the amount you need to get this place open?

It is our biggest fundraiser of the year.

We have a fortunate, ability to be such a diversely funded, establishment.

So our private donors really do help us get through tough times.

And so it like I said, it just helps us get ready for the next growing season.

This is our 13th year doing it.

And year after year this is what we've done, to keep the garden growing in a community.

What are some of the things you have here in front just before we finish this up?

Sure.

This looks awesome.

This is Rico Suave, and I mentioned them a little bit earlier of being one of our supporters from us from the get go.

So some of the things they'll be bringing this year is their street corn, which is just to die for.

And then their, chips and guac.

They look so good.

They also do tacos of many different varieties that taste of unity.

If you're vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, you are very likely to find something that you can still enjoy that night.

I know Rico Suave.

He does all three of those wonderfully.

That's awesome.

Just a little taste of tasty unity.

So make sure you get your tickets.

Go to their website to find out more about it.

Go to Eventbrite wherever all the details will be on screen of course, throughout this.

And yeah, thanks so much, Selena.

Thank you so much.