An Evening Where Elegance Meets Purpose
On October 2, the coastal air of Solana Beach will carry more than the scent of the ocean. It will be infused with the aromas of gourmet cuisine, the bouquet of world-class wines, and the warmth of a community united for a cause. Wine D’Vine 2025 promises an evening where culinary artistry and heartfelt mission align.
Hosted at the home of celebrated chef Jeffrey Strauss, this year’s gathering will honor Jim and Leslie Levinson with the Fostering Hearts Legacy Award for their extraordinary contributions to foster youth. The event is more than a gala. It is a testament to what happens when generosity, leadership, and compassion come together in one unforgettable night.
Honoring a Legacy of Service
Few have had a more legendary presence in the Southern California foster system than Jim and Leslie Levinson. Through their work with Walden Family Services, their contributions have included decades of grass-roots leadership, trailblazing innovation, and uncompromising advocacy on behalf of those children so desperately in need of stability and hope.
Leslie Levinson has been an advocate for children, promoting a model of schooling and capacity development programs that create enduring transformations. A Walden Board Chair since 2012, she was instrumental in constructing Polinsky Children’s Center and San Pasqual Academy. Her service in nonprofit and collegiate collegiate higher education finance spans several decades, equaled only by that dedicated to grassroots, on-the-ground, volunteer service.
His husband, Jim Levinson, is equally committed to his long-established career as a tax expert, applying his talents and resources to pursuits that appeal to his empathy. Together, their philanthropic activities reflect a mutual commitment to the power of the community to make a difference.
A Setting as Iconic as the Mission
Wine D’Vine 2025 takes place in as lovely a setting as the occasion. Scenically perched over the Pacific, Chef Jeffrey Strauss's home boasts dramatic ocean vistas that provide the backdrop for an elegant, intimate evening. A man who is a chef in his own kitchen and an experienced host, Strauss himself will be preparing dinner, each course a different tale of flavor and imagination.
From your first taste of wine to your last spoonful of dessert, your guests will enjoy pairings designed to dazzle and delight the palate. In a convivial setting, conversation comes as easily as champagne, and bonding of new friendships is facilitated in an environment as intimate as it is luxurious.
A Mission that Lives through Every Detail
While the night will be full of gastronomical excellence and fine wine, its purpose is the safety net of youth support that it offers. Wine D’Vine supports Walden Family Services programs, from safe housing and school support to behavioral health care and skills for life.
These programs are not idealistic. They are real avenues through which young individuals can pass from mere survival to genuine success. From arranging an independent first apartment for a teenage boy to adopting a child and paying for its sponsorship, Walden's purpose is based upon its conviction that all youth must be given an equal opportunity to be successful.
The Power of Community Credibility
By Walden Family Services CEO, Teresa Stivers, who has called their impact a lasting legacy in the world of foster care, their legacy was celebrated with a Fostering Hearts Legacy Award. Honoring their efforts, but challenging onward all to do likewise, this is an awards program that continues to disseminate their legacy far and wide.
With their promise spelled out, Wine D’Vine invites us to remember that charity need not be about big-budget stars. It’s about sustained, meaningful action of a kind that changes not only the world of the foster child, but the communities to which he/she is attached.
An Invitation to Make a Difference
To be a part of this wonderful evening, sponsorship packages provide something beyond a table at a high-profile gala. They provide high-shelf seating and program recognition within the agenda of the evening, in addition to an actual investment in Foster Youth well-being.
Guests shall be treated to an evening wherein all facets, from wine selection to rousing speeches, mirror the group's dream of a world where each child has its own warm, safe place to call home. It shall be a celebration, yet it shall be a vow a vow well beyond the confines of an event room.
A Tradition of Excellence
Since its 1976 beginning, Walden Family Services has labored tirelessly to create a good, safe, and successful foundation for foster children and youth. Through trauma-informed practice, Walden offers foster and adoptive family service, transition-age youth education service, short-term emergency shelter, behavioral health service, and development of life skills.
Events like Wine D’Vine become the pillars of this mission, where glitz from a gala mixes with gravitas from a cause that touches hearts on a daily basis. A tradition that is a part of San Diego’s charity circuit now, this year also continues to enlarge its reach and power.
A Night to Remember
Wine D'Vine 2025 should be more than a calendar social event. It is an experience everyone in attendance will sense, not only because it is beautiful and classy, but its function. To be able to have this celebration as a means of honoring Jim and Leslie Levinson is to show that style and substance combined can be something very special. Before the radiance of the setting sun and the warm light of common cause illuminating the evening, guests will raise a glass in honor of a good cause and to those who make it happen. It will be a night of celebration, a night of giving, and of lasting impact, the kind of night that causes one to consider why they come and why they give.
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