Visit LocalWineEvents.com and you’ll find thousands of elegant wine tasting events from New York to Los Angeles, and from Atlanta to Seattle. Narrow your search to Kansas, however, and you’ll find fewer than 10. One of those is the 10th-annual Catholic Social Service Charity Wine Tasting Event in Great Bend , the only one of its kind in this part of the state for wine connoisseurs to those just learning about the art of wine.
The gala will be held from 7-10 p.m. Friday, April 29, at the Club at Stone Ridge, 24th and Frey in Great Bend. Tickets are $35 per person, or $250 for a table of eight. Seating is limited.
When Shirley Lytle began thinking about a fundraiser to support Catholic Social Service programs in 2001, she wanted to bring something totally new and different and she thought a wine tasting event would appeal to the Great Bend community. “I wanted it to be a success. I wanted it to be a first class event or I wasn’t going to do it,” Lytle recalls.
 With the help of Roger Fowler from Standard Beverage in Wichita and Betty Chlumsky from Chlumsky Liquormart in Great Bend, the original focus was just on wine tasting, with a small live auction that was almost an afterthought. Over the past decade, the event has grown to include more than 25 sponsors, samples of more than three dozen wine products from around the world, a chance to visit with local Kansas vintners, live entertainment by classical guitarist, Richard J Falcon Jr, a lively auction (both live and silent) of more than 100 unique and fun treasures, and a chance to win a complete wine cellar, along with other games and prizes.
“This is an exciting year for the wine tasting,” said Rebecca Ford, event coordinator. “We celebrate those individuals and organizations who have faithfully supported our major fundraiser of the year for the past ten years.”
 Community support of the event translates into critical financial support for a variety of social service programs including adoption services, special needs foster care, teen mom support, marriage and relationship classes, economic assistance, addiction and recovery counseling, and disaster relief should the need arise.
Ford said there are four ways to support this year’s installment:
• Purchase Tickets. 
• Win a complete wine cellar. Receive one chance for a $10 donation, or three chances for $25 donation and you could be the winner of 50 different hand-picked bottles of wine valued at about $1000.00. One need not be present to win.
• Make a Donation. Donate a bottle of wine, a fun/unique item or service, or even a donation for the live or silent auction.
• Volunteer. Volunteers get in free and organizer still need a few individuals who would enjoy pouring wine, helping out with the auction, or keeping the food trays full.
Anyone can donate, volunteer, purchase tickets for the event, and make donations for the wine cellar by visiting the Catholic Social Service office at 2201 16th Street in Great Bend, or contact Ford at 620-792-1393, rford@catholicsocialservice.org.
Information and pictures are also available at www.catholicsocialservice.org.