Feeding San Diego Teams Up with Chef Travis Swikard for Exclusive Pairings with a Purpose Dinner Fundraiser on February 29
Callie is closing its doors to the public for the evening in support of Feeding San Diego and its Feeding Kids programs
Feeding San Diego is announcing its next Pairings with a Purpose Dinner Party fundraiser to be held next month. The dinner will be hosted by celebrated Chef Travis Swikard, chef and owner of Callie and a San Diego native. Funds raised from the event will benefit the non-profit’s hunger-relief programs that support local families, kids, college students, seniors, and military families in bringing meals home. This is the first Pairings with a Purpose Dinner Party event of 2024 and will celebrate a community of Feeding San Diego supporters with an evening featuring a five-course dinner by Chef Travis with wine pairings from the Wagner Family of Wines featuring Caymus, plus live and silent auctions. The event will take place on Thursday, February 29 from 6 to 9 p.m. at Callie in the East Village (1195 Island Ave, San Diego, CA 92101) for about 100 guests. It is sponsored in part by Cal-Mil and the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation.
“We are incredibly grateful to Chef Travis and his team for welcoming Feeding San Diego supporters into their beautiful restaurant for this unique experience. Callie has been a supporter of Feeding San Diego since they opened their doors, helping raise funds to support the nearly 300,000 San Diegans experiencing food insecurity,” said Ali Colbran, Feeding San Diego’s director of development. “Every person who attends our Pairings with a Purpose Dinner Party series will directly support people facing hunger in San Diego County, all while enjoying a spectacular meal from one of our city’s most exciting chefs.”
Since the pandemic, Feeding San Diego has experienced an increase in need for its services and went from distributing 26 million meals in 2019 to 31.2 in 2020. The number of meals peaked in 2021 at 40.3 million, but Feeding San Diego is still distributing millions more meals than it was pre-pandemic, just over 35 million in 2022. At the same time, donations have declined since the pandemic, making it challenging for the non-profit to meet the needs of the community, particularly with inflation affecting its purchasing power.
“As a husband, father, and a chef, I can’t imagine seeing kids go hungry. I can’t imagine my kids not having a snack in their backpack. That’s what really resonates with me,” said Travis Swikard, chef and owner of Callie. “When I moved back to San Diego and opened Callie, it was my intention to invest in the community. Not just with building a restaurant but by showing up for the people of San Diego, our neighbors. With this ongoing partnership with Feeding San Diego, we are able to make a direct impact in our community.”
Since opening his restaurant in 2021, Callie has been recognized as one of the best new restaurants in America by Esquire and Robb Report and received a Bib Gourmand and Plate by the Michelin Guide.
Feeding San Diego’s Pairings with a Purpose Dinner Party is an ongoing series and serves as a primary fundraiser for the organization, a partner food bank of Feeding America. Every dinner is completely different, from the chef to the venue, but the one thing they all have in common is that all proceeds from the events support Feeding San Diego’s hunger-relief programs in San Diego County. Tickets to Pairings with a Purpose Dinner Party with Chef Travis Swikard can be purchased for $495 now until they sell out. There will be two additional Pairings with a Purpose Dinner Parties in 2024.
