YWCA to Empower Women, Eliminate Racism at Turn Up the Heat By-The-Bite Fundraiser

 

Whenever Barbara Lerman throws a party, youll find people of all different backgrounds and races mingling together. Thats because Lerman embodies the YWCAs mission to empower women and eliminate racism in her everyday life.

Lerman is just one of the Movers and Shakers the YWCA White Plains & Central Westchester will be honoring at their Turn Up the Heat by-the-bite cocktail fundraiser on Oct. 13, at 515 North Ave. in White Plains.

Join the YWCA for a night of food, drinks, music, auctions and good friends at YWCAs third annual Movers and Shakers to help the YWCA continue to promote peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.

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The Food

The YWCAs third annual Movers and Shakers event will feature Westchesters top female chefs and mixologists who will be serving up their best creations. Leslie Lampert of Love Hospitality, which runs Ladle of Love, Love on the Run and Cafe of Love, says shell be serving up a trio of offerings from her first rate restaurants.

Like a fork, its ?multi-pronged, said Lampert, who was a journalist and Senior Editor for Ladies Home Journal Magazine before starting Love Hospitality. I support the YWCA as an organization and community operation. Secondly, the theme of women in the food industry and chefs, I of course am one and am honored to be a part of that.

Lampert, who was featured on Oprah, sees herself as a chef that happens to be a woman. She doesnt see her job as gender specific. She says being a woman, mother and a caretaker has uniquely suited her for a career in the hospitality industry.

Her award winning soup joint, Ladle of Love, will serve their seasonal and locally sourced Harvest Celebration and Vegan Wild Mushroom soups at the event. Lampert will also be serving up a root vegetable dish with a maple sage glaze and a deconstructed pulled pork taco.

Im supportive of the organization, Im supportive to have a platform so that women chefs and women restaurant owners can have more visibility, said Lampert.

Statistics show that inequality is evident in the restaurant industry:

• 95% of executive chefs (those running the kitchen) are men
• 82% of sous chefs (second-in-commands in the kitchen) are men
• 66% of line cooks (the ones you see behind the burners) are men
• 75% of all eating and drinking establishments are owned by men ??

Here’s who else will be serving up delicious fare at the fundraiser:

The Mission

For Lerman, a Mamaroneck resident (via the Bronx) who has practiced law for 34 years, fighting to end sexism and racial inequality is second nature.

Its part of who I am, she says. I grew up in the 50s and there was nothing for girls or women.

When Lerman was growing up, women were taught that they would grow up to get married and have children. A career wasnt necessary or even an option. Women were also taught to believe that girls werent as good or as smart as boys.

We didnt even realize it as a significant problem at the time, thats just the way society was, Lerman tells Westchester Woman.

Since then, Lermans contributions have helped fight against sexism and racism. Lerman, who has had her own private practice since 1982, a?member of the Board of Directors for the Westchester Black Bar Association and is also a member of the New Rochelle and Westchester Womens Bar Associations.

Theres no rational explanation for racism and sexism to continue even so many years later, Lerman says. Theres no reason for income inequality, or walking into a board meeting and the board members are almost all white men.

Lerman says that identifying women, people of color or people of different religions as second class citizens, dangerous or not as smart/talented as white men is a societal illness.

We have to get past that, says Lerman. Its great that the YWCA brings it to our attention with programs like this. I am so excited and humbled to have been selected for recognition -- its really an honor for me. This event is going to be fun and I expect it will raise everyones consciousness and will enable the YW to continue with its important mission. ??Its really relevant and important and i'm so proud to be a part of it. ?

Lerman will be honored alongside The Bellantoni Family, Ben Himmelfarb, William M. Mooney, III and Sekai Ndemanga. Event co-chair and YWCA board member Dr. Sabrina Magdid-Katz of Harrison says she is excited to honor these specific Movers and Shakers for their accomplishments.

Katz, who is co-chairing the committee with her husband Adam Katz, has been attending the YWCA since she was a kid. Now her son takes swimming lessons there. Her dental practice, Advanced Dentistry of Westchester, sponsors a number of the YWCAs events.

As a new mother, I want my son to grow up in a community where social equality is valued and everyone is treated with the kindness and respect they deserve, Katz says.

As a woman who is a young professional it is important to me that young girls are encouraged to pursue their dreams and goals, and given the support to do so. Eliminating racism and empowering women are bedrock principles in ensuring that everyone has an opportunity to thrive.

The Event

The YWCA is still looking for local businesses to serve as event sponsors and/or donate goods or services to be auctioned off at the event. You can find the auction donation and sponsorship sign up info below:

We look forward to seeing you at the event!