Helping Hands for Haiti event set for Saturday

On Saturday, March 6, from 4 to 8 p.m., DiFebo’s Bistro on the Green at Bear Trap Dunes will be holding a Helping Hands for Haiti fundraiser.

“I just think that we just try to help out wherever we can. I think the restaurant is a great bridge to get people together, getting the community together to help,” said Lisa DiFebo-Osias – chef, restaurateur and driving force behind the fundraiser.

Tickets for the event, which are being sold for $15 for adults and $8 for children younger than 12, include a spaghetti dinner with meatball, salad and homemade focaccia bread.

The Stims, members of the Dagsboro Church of God, and Paul Cullen will perform live music throughout the night.

The event will have facepainting and more from Lollipop the Clown, who is donating her services for the event.

The Bistro teamed up with Mariner’s Bethel United Methodist Church, which has organized the bake-sale goods that will be sold at the event, along with an indoor flea market.

DiFebo-Osias was also able to get some auction items from the community that will be available for bids during the event’s silent and live auctions. Those items include a signed hockey stick from NHL player Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals, spa deals, a week in a house in Puerto Rico, a private in-house cooking class for six to 10 people and an in-house “Dream Team” dinner party featuring Jeff Osias from DeFibo’s, Bryan Muzik from NorthEast Seafood Kitchen and Becca Piperno, who will handle front of the house.

“It’s funny – I was talking to my friend and business associate, and we were talking about our goal,” said DiFebo-Osias. “And I think the difference between our goal with this and 9/11… I think that Haiti is in need of more financial assistance, but I think from our end it’s more about bringing your community together. That is the goal – and allowing people to know they have their hands helping someone else. Whether you buy a ticket or a baked good or you just sit and have a cocktail that day, you’ve done something to help this poor, poor country.”

DiFebo-Osias has tried to make Saturday’s Helping Hands as much a community event as she has an event to benefit aid for Haiti. She and local Realtor Vicki York have been contacting local businesses, asking them to put the event on their marquees to help get the word out.

“I’m hoping, going up and down Route 1, people will remind the community that the spaghetti dinner is March 6,” said DiFebo-Osias.

“Oh, my goodness – there isn’t someone in town that you probably wouldn’t be able to notice that isn’t involved. I mean, people have come out of the woodwork,” said Charly Weber, chairperson of auctions and donations for the event.

All proceeds will go directly to the American Red Cross, which will have representatives attending the event to discuss the relief efforts currently going on.

And for those who may want to do a little more than donating money to the relief efforts, “There’s going to be someone representing one of the orphanages in Haiti, for those who may have questions about Haitian adoption,” DiFebo-Osias noted.

Tickets for the event may be purchased in advance or at the door, and DiFebo-Osias said she hopes the event will bring the community out to support such a worthy cause.

“They are the poorest of the poor, and they definitely need our help,” she said.

For more information, call (302) 537-6100 or (302) 539-4550. DiFebo’s Bistro on the Green at Bear Trap Dunes is located Clubhouse Drive in Ocean View, Del.