Thank You to our Supporters!
On behalf of everyone here at International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Salt Lake City and the refugees and New Americans we serve, thank you for joining us at our 4th annual Breaking Bread. We gathered to celebrate new beginnings, friendships built from shared experiences and sitting down at the family table to break bread with new neighbors. We are overwhelmed to know we work in such a welcoming community of friends and humanitarians. Thank you.
At Breaking Bread, we welcomed nearly 300 guests, including over 50 refugee and New American neighbors served by the IRC in Salt Lake City. With support of old friends and new, we collectively raised over $35,000 to support the life-changing programs and services offered by the IRC in Salt Lake City.
We also celebrated incredible Rescue Partners during dinner: Janet Ellingson, a long-time volunteer who supports our civics & citizenship classes and champions our work in her community; The Bicycle Collective of Salt Lake City which has provided hundreds of bicycles to newly arrived refugees; and Creminelli Fine Meats which organized the Discover Food Festival and continues to support our Spice Kitchen Incubator program.
Breaking Bread would not be possible without the generous and ongoing support of our sponsors. We would like to send a heartfelt thanks to the individuals and businesses who go above and beyond to support our work and those we serve. Our Humanitarian Sponsors who gave $10,000: eBay, Regence BlueCross BlueShield, and Wasatch Global Investors. Our Leader Sponsor who gave $5,000: Hamby, Jones & Associates. Our Activist Sponsors who gave $2,500+: Creminelli Fine Meats, Underbelly, Susan Poulin of Summit Sotheby’s International, University of Utah Health Plans, and First Utah Bank. And our Friend Sponsors who gave $1,000+: Celtic Bank, Intermountain Healthcare, and Latter-Day Saint Charities.
4th Annual Breaking Bread
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Salt Lake City cordially invites you to join us at our 4th annual Breaking Bread, a fundraising dinner welcoming refugees and New Americans to the Beehive State. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, enjoy an evening focused on the family table, where new beginnings are celebrated, where friendships arise from shared experiences, and where food bridges all barriers. Break bread as a community and welcome our new American friends to this place we all call home.
In the tradition of Thanksgiving, guests will share a meal with an international flair catered by small business entrepreneurs participating in our Spice Kitchen Incubator program, take family portraits, and enjoy a variety of family-friendly activities to encourage welcome for all.
Funds raised from Breaking Bread will support the work of the IRC in Salt Lake City.
When: Thursday, November 21, 2019 from 6:30-9:00pm.
Dinner begins at 7:30pm
Where: The Union Event Center
235 North 500 West, Salt Lake City, Utah
How: Tickets and more information »
Ticket sales will close on Wednesday, November 13th.
As of Nov. 2nd we only have 50 tickets remaining, and we expect to sell out.
Tickets available for adults (16 years & older) and youth (5 to 15 years old).
Children under five years old can attend the event for free if their attendance is confirmed via email.
Refugee and immigrant entrepreneurs from Spice Kitchen Incubator will be serving cuisine from around the world at Breaking Bread. All of the chefs have worked hard to start and grow their business right here along the Wasatch Front.
You won't want to miss a taste of these incredible entrepreneurs' cuisine!
Spice Kitchen Chefs
Chefs Suha and Mayada will provide a selection of Middle Eastern small bites and hors d'oeurvres at Breaking Bread. Chef Suha arrived in Utah with her family from Iraq in 2011, reuniting with her sister, Chef Mayada. The sisters always enjoyed cooking and sharing their culinary talents with their community. Suha and Mayada dream big for a future operating a high-end specialty catering business: “It’s a wonderful feeling to own your own business,” says Suha.
Chef Abudu will present a table filled with his Afro-Caribbean fusion cuisine for the main course at Breaking Bread. Chef Abudu moved to the United States in 2001, and Utah in 2016. From the island of Lamu off the coast of Kenya, Abudu worked in the kitchen since he was a child, then in various positions at restaurants. Abudu is excited to bring new flavors to Salt Lake City: “It is time to showcase my own experience to the world and give cooks a door to the world.”
Chef Michaela will craft a multi-layer opera cake tradition to the snowy peaks of Austria where she was raised for Breaking Bread. Michaela started cooking with her mother and grandparents as soon as she was tall enough to reach the stovetop. She started baking delicacies for special occasions by age ten, and continued exploring patisserie and the effects of diet and nutrition later in life. Michaela believes in bringing quality, flavor and a personal touch to every dish she makes.
New American Voices Speakers
We would like to introduce you to the New American Voices speakers who will join us during the program to talk about their lives since arriving to the U.S. and the challenges they've overcome to positively integrate into their new home.
You won't want to miss hearing from these incredible women.
Meet Apiel
Apiel Kuot, originally from South Sudan, resettled to the U.S. in 2016 through the efforts of the International Rescue Committee in Salt Lake City. She is a single mother of two daughters, now 11 and 6. Apiel is determined: working part-time, enrolled in GED courses, and taking online courses in case management. She would like to become a caseworker with a refugee resettlement agency one day to help newly-arrived refugees positively integrate into their new home.
Apiel works hard to create a better life for herself and her family: “I love my kids so much. I work hard for my family, I never give up.”
Meet Ahimara
Ahimara Suarez and her family immigrated to Utah from Venezuela in 2017. Ahimara and her husband, Eliceo, opened Delicius, a family Venezuelan bakery, in Salt Lake City with the help of the IRC in Salt Lake City’s Spice Kitchen Incubator. In her youth, Ahimara cooked with her grandmother every day, learning the art and balance of flavors. Preparing food with her grandmother was always accompanied by the stories and traditions of Venezuela—something Ahimara strives to preserve and share through her small business in Utah.
In 2018, Breaking Bread attracted over 225 community members who joined 60 recently arrived refugees and New Americans at the family table to enjoy a meal together. We welcomed a wide network of the IRC’s supporters, volunteers and friends to enjoy a meal alongside refugee families raising nearly $35,000 to support crucial programming for the refugees we serve. The dinner, served family-style, featured cuisines from around the world catered by our Spice Kitchen Incubator program entrepreneurs.
Event Sponsorships – We do have a number of event sponsorship opportunities available. Learn more here »
Event sponsors receive tickets to the event as well as printed and digital recognition to 8,000+ supporters of our work and the refugees we serve. For more information about sponsoring Breaking Bread, contact our development manager, Jesse Sheets, at Jesse.Sheets@rescue.org or by phone at 801.883.8457. Don’t miss this opportunity to join us to showcase your brand and stand with refugees in the Beehive State.
All proceeds raised at Breaking Bread will directly support the work of the IRC in Salt Lake City and the refugees & New Americans we serve.
Please note the non-tax deductible, Fair Market Value of all adult and youth individual tickets is $45.
For questions or more information, kindly contact the IRC in SLC at SaltLakeCity@rescue.org or by phone at 801.883.8455.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) helps millions of people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict to survive, recover and regain control of their futures. In 1994, the IRC in Salt Lake City opened its doors and has since resettled over 10,500 refugees. The minute these brave individuals step off the plane in Salt Lake City, IRC staff and volunteers are there to help them on the final leg of their journey and continue to provide critical services for 24 months.
