This August, Cottage Park Yacht Club marks the 30th anniversary of its annual weekend to benefit Make-A-Wish with a kickoff Soiree open to the community on Friday, Aug. 2 in the Westerly Ballroom.
Over the decades of CPYC’s involvement with Make-A-Wish, CPYC members, benefactors in the community, and hundreds of parents of child sailors have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the charity. Last year the weekend brought in $77,000, enough to fulfill the wishes of seven children who are struggling with degenerative, life threatening, and chronic illnesses.
The weekend got its start in the 1990s as a sailing race to benefit the nonprofit, dedicated to sending children to locations they’ve dreamed about, helping them meet sports stars and heroes in the community, and arranging other valued experiences for children and their families.
This year, the Make-A-Wish weekend will bring child and adult sailors to Cottage Park for a weekend of races, raffles, auctions and other opportunities for the community to support this worthy organization. To participate, members of the broader Winthrop community and beyond can sign up for the Soiree on Friday, Aug. 2 on the Make-A-Wish page of the CPYC website.
The Soiree is an elegant cocktail reception, featuring wine and beer tastings, gourmet food sampling, raffles and auctions, as well as live music. It takes place in the club’s Westerly Ballroom, which offers an expansive view of sunset behind Boston. Other ways to support Make-A-Wish include becoming an event sponsor, offering in kind or monetary donations, ordering an event t-shirt or a custom made Sea Bag, or participating in one of the regattas: the handicap pursuit race on Saturday, or one-design races on Saturday and Sunday. For more information, see the CPYC website, under “Events.”