Wine Festival patrons get a look at how they're helping at Meet The Kids Day

Hot coffee, cool breezes and a surprising array of needs funded through the Naples Winter Wine Festival were the eye-openers that greeted attendees at its annual "Meet the Kids" Day on Friday.

The morning visit officially opens the festival. It brings attendees, vintners and the board to meet the 50 agencies that benefit from the millions it raises annually, which are distributed through the Naples Children & Education Foundation.

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Two tents on the grounds of the Boys & Girls Club of Collier County shielded visitors from a gray flannel sky and offered them time to visit with the organizations, their officials and even some of the children they've helped.

In one corner stood Noel McFarlane, 19, a senior at Lely High School, who said he has learned leadership skills as well as good basketball through Boys & Girls Club of Collier County's communication classes and its league sports.

"It's really given me a lot of opportunities to grow. They work with you so you get better at communication, so you can be better as a verbal speaker," said McFarlane, who came ready to communicate in a gray suit and bow tie.

Matching him in height, if not dress, was Stewie the Duck, a feathery mascot for the Drowning Prevention Awareness group of of the Safe & Healthy Children's Coalition. Stewie, along with the NCEF grants, helps people like Samantha Molina, of Collier County Parks & Recreation Department, teach pre-kindergarten and primary-grade students survival tactics. Drowning, as its message points out, is the leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 4 in Collier County.

The grants also enable Collier County Parks and Recreation, the City of Naples and the YMCA teach free swim classes — so far to more than 9,000 area children.

There were beneficiary organizations whose works were familiar: Catholic Charities, PACE Center for Girls, the Guadalupe Center, Big Brothers Big Sisters, to name a few. But there were some that are doing work quietly: Among them is the Early Learning Literacy Model (ELLM), which brings certified teachers to pre-kindergarten classes where they work with teachers to jumpstart literacy among children before they're in school.

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Ryan Turner, now a Naples High School senior, was there as a former student of ELLM coach Carol Clabaugh, who was also at the booth.

"There are over 4,000 kids who go into kindergarten without ever having had pre-K (education)," explained Clabaugh of the voluntary organization. "They already know their letters and they have a lot of the phonological skills in place. They're developing their vocabulary skills."

This is a year with a lot of needs, said Maria Jimenez-Lara, NCEF CEO, as she stood greeting the busloads of arrivals for Meet the Kids. The attendees would see what their donations were achieving and hear a presentation on the work NCEF has done since the festival began in 2001.

The morning would include the festival's presentation of its 2022 Chef de Cuisine to Chef Nancy Oakes of Boulevard restaurant in San Francisco, and a luncheon, with wine tasting, before the dinner festivities were to begin Friday night.

But the Friday morning event has fans who come back year after year, perhaps for the same reason as Paul Hills, chairman of the NCEF board, and a member of the festival planning committee.

"My wife and I believe the basis of society is the family. We cannot be their family," he said of the underprivileged children the foundation serves. "But we can provide some of their needs, some of their wants through NCEF."

Gail Radley, a newcomer to Naples, was also attending her first Naples Winter Wine Festival, and Meet the Kids had really cemented her decision to do it, she said.

"It's absolutely amazing what's accomplished here, and I'm delighted to be participating," declared Radley. "I'm looking forward to learning more about these organizations. Every one of them speaks to my heart."

Harriet Howard Heithaus covers arts and entertainment for the Naples Daily News/naplesnews.com. Reach her at 239-213-6091.

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Naples Winter Wine Festival Kids Day unites donors, beneficiaries