Taste of the Lakes offers good food for a good cause

Those in and around west Oakland County are encouraged to attend the 12th annual Taste of the Lakes fund-raiser on Thursday, Sept. 27, benefiting Lakes Area Youth Assistance (LAYA).

The event runs from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Edgewood Country Club, located at 8399 Commerce Road in Commerce Township. During the yearly fund-raiser, participants will sample cuisine from 21 area restaurants, including Uptown Grille; On the Waterfront; Daniel’s Pizza; Volare; Wilson’s Pub n’ Grill; Tokyo Sushi and Thai Cuisine; Fiesta Fajitas; The Pastry Palace; Great Harvest Bread, and more.

Lakes Area Youth Assistance is a community group with the mission of strengthening youth and families and preventing and reducing delinquency, neglect, and abuse through community involvement.

The Oakland County Circuit Court lends professional staff to work with the group to provide direct casework services. Each local Youth Assistance program operates under the sponsorship and financial support of its local school district, the municipalities therein, and the county Probate Court, and the Oakland County Circuit Court Family Division. Additional funding is obtained through grants, donations, and local fund-raising efforts.

“The proceeds will support the administrative end of LAYA that works with the family courts of Oakland County,” said Mike Stack, co-chair of Taste of the Lakes. “We get some funding from them, but we need dollars for administration.

“LAYA send kids to camp, provides skill-building, offsets costs for needy families for pay-to-play sports, addresses bullying, and does drug prevention and youth education,” he said.

Tickets for Taste of the Lakes are $20 per person in advance and are available at the LAYA office, located at 615 N. Pontiac Trail in Walled Lake, or at the Commerce Township, Walled Lake, Wixom and Wolverine Lake municipal offices.

Tickets are also available at the door for $25 each.

Taste of the Lakes promises to be an evening filled with fun, top-notch food, and a cash bar.

There will also be numerous giveaways, including a grand prize 42-inch flat-screen television, sports memorabilia and auction items, such as a “Girls Night Out” package complete with limousine service and dinner at the Walled Lake Fire Station with a fire truck ride at the end.

A luncheon, tour, and limo ride, courtesy of the Commerce Township Fire Department, will also be up for bids.