The Lewes Yacht Club Foundation is completing the finishing touches in preparation for the Ghosts of the Bay Pirate Party to take place Saturday, Oct. 26, at the Lewes Yacht Club.
The festive occasion includes dinner, music and both live and silent auctions and celebrates the colorful Delaware Bay history. The event is the foundation’s biggest fundraiser of the year and raises money for disadvantaged children in Sussex County who do not have the opportunity to enjoy sailing, swimming and other activities that take place in and around our local waters. Nearly 14 percent of families in Sussex County live below the poverty line, with many children never having the opportunity to learn to swim.
In 2013, LYC Foundation donated $21,000 to help underserved children in Sussex County. The foundation worked with other nonprofits to identify the children who would most benefit from the kind of programs the Foundation funds.
The highlight of Ghosts of the Bay Pirate Party will be the spectacular auction items that organizers have been assembling. They include:
• A 10-day stay in a three-bedroom townhouse situated in a 200-year-old stone olive mill in Maussane les Alpilles, Provence, France. This region of France boasts Roman ruins, picturesque ancient villages, and fine vineyards. It is best known for its olive oils. The townhouse is within a short drive from the medieval village of Les Baux
• Two sunset cruises on luxurious sailing boats, either Moneypenny or Delgato
• A behind-the-scenes, personal tour of Winterthur estate, the former residence of Henry Francis du Pont that is now a premier museum, library and 1,000-acre preserve
• A beautiful canvas reproduction of N.C. Wyeth’s painting, The Pirate.
In keeping with a festive pirate party theme, dinner dishes will be served at stations located about the main dining room. Entrées include hand-carved steamship roast beef and paella with shrimp, lobster, clams, chicken and chorizo. Pirate first class, Frank Baker will be providing music.
Partygoers are encouraged to wear costumes, though no one will be turned away without them. There will be plenty of decorations and extra masks and other pirate accessories.
“While this party offers a chance to get together and have some fun while recalling Delaware’s very colorful history, it also gives us the opportunity to help local children learn to swim, learn about the environment in the bay area, receive scholarships for marine studies and to truly enjoy the Delaware Bay,” says Janet Davis, president of the LYC Foundation.
The LYC Foundation was founded in 2012 with a mission to provide funding to enhance the potential of youth in sailing, swimming, and maritime activities and education. In 2013, the organization’s $21,000 in donations went to the following:
• Sailing scholarships for eligible children to attend Lewes Yacht Club’s Junior Sailing Camp
• Rehoboth Beach YMCA to provide swimming and water safety classes to eligible children
• Grants to Milton Boys & Girls Club, Rehoboth Boys & Girls Club and West Side New Beginnings in Rehoboth Beach
• College scholarships
The cost of the event is $85 a person or $1,250 for a benefactor’s reserved table for six that includes an advertisement in the program and a listing on the Lewes Yacht Club Foundation website www.lycfoundation.com.
For more information or to purchase a ticket, contact Linda Dickey at 302-644-4492, or dickey@4sightgroup.com.
The Lewes Yacht Club Foundation is a nonprofit organization with a mission to provide funding to enhance the potential of youth in sailing, swimming, and maritime activities and education. For more information, go to www.lycfoundation.com.
