SALISBURY — The annual Wine Dinner fundraiser for the Housatonic Valley Regional High School International Travel Club was held at the White Hart in Salisbury on Friday evening, Sept. 18.
The club raises money to allow students to participate in its trips regardless of their ability to pay. The first Wine Dinner, spearheaded in 2019 by Denis Cohn of Falls Village, raised $25,000, and subsequent dinners have raised similar amounts.
Club adviser John Lizzi, a social studies teacher at HVRHS, said 60 students have signed up for trips to Greece in April 2027 and to the Galapagos Islands and Ecuador in July 2027.
“That’s about 20% of the student body,” he said.
Ivy Zheng, a senior from North Canaan, will make her first trip with the club when she travels to the Galapagos Islands.
She said she received a scholarship with a service requirement and will focus on reforestation efforts during the trip.
Addie Diorio and Lydia Fleming, also seniors from North Canaan, have participated in previous trips. Diorio traveled to Spain and Portugal, Thailand, and Australia and New Zealand. Fleming participated in the Thailand and Australia-New Zealand trips and traveled separately to Iceland.
The Thailand trip also included a service component. Diorio said the group began in Bangkok before traveling to the Chiang Mai area.
The HVRHS students helped local residents by preparing food for consumption or sale and building raised garden beds.
They also visited an elephant sanctuary.
“We had to tromp through the jungle looking for the elephants,” Fleming said.
At the dinner, Travel Club students served guests while staff handled the wine. A silent auction featured items and services including a guided fishing trip from Housatonic River Outfitters, furniture by Alan Turner, packages from Canaan Country Club and a ceramic platter made by HVRHS art teacher Lilly Rand.
