The Imperial Court de San Diego, with the help of a mass e-mail distributed by SD Pix, collected two truck loads of food in 48 hours. The food, donated by community members, was delivered to the food pantry at Mama’s Kitchen. The Imperial Court will continue to collect food for Mama’s Kitchen food pantry throughout the year at its monthly meetings held at The San Diego LGBT Community Center the third Wednesday of every month.

Tickets are still available for the Greater San Diego Business Association’s annual Holiday Cruise aboard the California Spirit, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 3. The boat leaves dock promptly at 6 p.m. and Returns to port at 8 p.m.

The event is hosted by Scot Rockman of San Diego Harbor Excursion, which provides food, desserts and hosted premium drinks. DJ Laura Jane will keep the party in high gear. Participants are encouraged to bring unwrapped toys and blankets for the Imperial Court’s toy drive. Tickets are $50 for members, $50 for first guests and $60 for each additional guest. Pre-registration is required.

For more information, visit www.gaylesbiantimes.com/links/1092.

The entire community is invited to Come Home for The Holidays! for the San Diego GLBT community’s annual holiday party on Sunday, Dec. 7, from 5-8 p.m., in The San Diego LGBT Community Center’s Auditorium. The Center, along with more than 30 community and/or faith based organizations, will come together to put on a holiday fete that will bring all facets of the community together under one roof to share in holiday joy. The event will feature a variety of food, a no-host bar, music, entertainment and a candle-lighting ceremony. For those who cannot share the holidays with their biological family this is a great opportunity to celebrate the holidays with “family.” Come Home for The Holidays! is free to everyone who would like to attend, however, organizers would like each guest to bring a new, unwrapped toy for the Imperial Court de San Diego’s annual toy drive.

For more information, visit www.gaylesbiantimes.com/links/1092.

The Celebrate Sexuality workshop will be held at The San Diego LGBT Community Center on Saturday, Dec. 6, from 1-2:30 p.m. Facilitated by licensed therapist Michael Kimmel, this workshop will explore the relationship between mental, physical and sexual health. A happy and healthy sex life is a major part of mental and physical health and a well-balanced sexual life includes the head and heart. Those who are willing to see their sexual expression as a positive and essential part of who they are have the capacity to be mentally and physically healthier than ever before. Instead of focusing on what’s wrong with our sexual lives, the Celebrate Sexuality workshop will explore the ways that sexual expression can encourage emotional, spiritual and physical healing.

Kimmel is an openly-gay San Diego psychotherapist with a private practice in the Kensington area. Kimmel has attended 15 California Men’s Gatherings and facilitated workshops at gatherings in Los Angeles and San Diego and community gatherings at the 2001 and 2002 Julian gatherings. He is currently writing a book, Life Beyond Therapy: How to create a practical, spiritual and psychologically rewarding life.

For more information or for a link on how to reserve a space in the workshop, visit www.gaylesbiantimes.com/links/1092.

The San Diego Human Dignity Foundation will announce the recipients of its 2008 – 2009 Community Grant Program at the organization’s upcoming Grants Award Ceremony to be held at Diversionary Theatre in University Heights on Monday, Dec. 8, from 2-4 p.m.

“We are grateful to San Diego Pride and our generous donors, who helped make this grant cycle possible. With the awarding of the $25,100 from our Community Grant Program, we will have surpassed over $130,000 in grant-making for 2008,” said Tony Freeman, SDHDF executive director. “With more and more services being accessed and needed during these challenging times, we all need to do everything we can to support the organization’s serving our LGBT community.”

SDHDF will present grants to 12 community organizations at the ceremony. This year’s grant recipients are representative of the funding priorities noted in the GLBT needs assessment, including civil rights advocacy and education, youth, seniors, families and health services.

“In order to increase our granting capacity and support our local non-profits, we will be establishing a new San Diego LGBT Opportunity Fund in early 2009,” said David Miles, SDHDF’s board president. All donations to this fund will be granted directly back to local non-profits serving San Diego’s GLBT community. “This is a great opportunity to help provide needed support to the broad range of organizations working to meet the needs of our community,” Miles said.

The SDHDF was established in 1996 with a mission to improve the quality of life within San Diego’s GLBT community by promoting responsible philanthropy to enact positive social change. For more information, visit www.gaylesbiantimes.com.

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex and Allies Association (LGBTQIA) at UCSD recently announced the dates for the LGBTQIA Non Sexist Dances for upcoming quarter. The first will be on Saturday, Jan. 31, and the second will be on Saturday, Feb. 28. Both are from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. at The Stage at Porter’s Pub on campus, and both are free, open to all ages, and open to the public.

The LGBTQIA at UCSD is a student-run organization at the University of California, San Diego committed to providing safe spaces for the GLBTQIA community. The organization works towards this goal in many ways, including holding regular meetings to provide a space to talk and socialize. The meetings are held Monday nights at 7 p.m. in UCSD’s LGBT Resource Center, located in UCSD’s Old Student Center.

The organization also holds the Non Sexist social dances, which are always open to all, allowing people to have a good time without fear. In addition to these activities the organization holds rallies to express GLBTIQ Pride and also promotes education, both within the GLBTIQ community and to the greater San Diego community.

For more information, visit www.gaylesbiantimes.com/links/1092.

Sycuan Casino’s bakery has been working nonstop since Friday making pies for Mama’s Kitchen Pie In The Sky fund raiser.

“We strongly believe in Mama’s Kitchen’s mission that everyone is entitled to the basic necessity of life: nutritious food,” said Anita Bye, director of community development for Sycuan Casino. “It is Sycuan’s honor to assist with the efforts of Mama’s Kitchen in providing this service to men, women, and children who suffer from HIV, AIDS, and other critical illnesses.”

The 1,500 pies baked by Sycuan Casino were delivered and unloaded at Mama’s Kitchen on Monday for the annual Mama’s Pie in the Sky fund raiser as a way for the community to order fresh-baked pies in time for Thanksgiving Day, while at the same time raising cash for the clients of Mama’s Kitchen.

Proceeds from the fund raiser will help Mama’s Kitchen, which provides daily home-cooked meals for those living with HIV/AIDS and other life threatening illnesses.

Mama’s Kitchen provides three meals a day for every day of the week to more than 300 men, women, and children affected by HIV/AIDS or other critical illnesses in San Diego County, from Oceanside and San Marcos in the north, to Alpine in the east, south to Otay Mesa and Chula Vista, and throughout central San Diego and the beach communities.

This year, Mama’s Kitchen has taken orders for about 3,000 pies since the fund raiser launched in October.

“We’re proud Sycuan’s contribution is a big part of this important effort,” Bye said.

The Sycuan Tribal Government operates the Indian gaming and resort facilities, the Sycuan Casino and Sycuan Resort.

Already gearing up for its 35th annual celebration, scheduled for July 18 and 19, San Diego LGBT Pride recently awarded several volunteers at an appreciation event for their outstanding, longtime service to the organization, while extending its gratitude to the nearly 700 other volunteers who contributed their efforts to this summer’s Pride weekend.

The honorees were: Jeremy Farner (festival safety); Mike Sparaco (signage crew); Esteban M. Durate (parade); Angella Barrett (exhibitor relations); Karrie Kabat (beverage coordinator); Kris Tebbetts and Tonya Tronvig (crew central); Kelly Ranashingne (parade safety); and general support volunteers Eddie Proudfoot and Ray Lucero, as well as Eve and Simone van Eik, who visited from Amsterdam to participate.

Special recognition was also given to Araceli “Cheli” Mohamed for 15 years of outstanding service to San Diego Pride.

“We offer our deepest thanks to the hundreds of volunteers who give their time and talent to organizing, planning and managing all of the events that make our Pride celebrations possible,” said Ron deHarte, Pride executive irector. “Volunteer participation also helps give character to our Pride event, making it a unique San Diego experience for all involved.”

San Diego Pride each year offers an array of volunteer positions in the planning and production of Pride weekend. Pride’s 2009 celebration is scheduled for July 18 and 19.

The community is invited to roll into 2009 with a special performance and dance party at La Jolla Playhouse on New Year’s Eve.

The theater will host XanaDU Year’s Eve! a special New Year’s Eve event to celebrate the run of its musical comedy Xanadu and the beginning of a new year on Dec. 31.

The performance and dance party will run from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. in the Mandell Weiss Theatre and the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre at La Jolla Playhouse.

“Xanadu is a 90 minute party onstage,” said artistic director Christopher Ashley. “We’ll be extending the party until the ball drops and beyond. What a perfect way to celebrate New Year’s Eve and close Xanadu’s run here in San Diego.”

Attendees will see Broadway’s surprise hit musical, Xanadu, then step inside Xanadu’s world of glitter and glam at the extraordinary party. La Jolla Playhouse brings out the disco balls, pulls out all the stops and rocks and rolls into the wee hours of 2009 in a fun 1980s evening featuring members of the Xanadu cast singing dance hits of the ’80s era just prior to the New Year countdown.

Xanadu officially opened at La Jolla Playhouse Sunday, Nov. 23, 2008. Xanadu is a Tony Award-nominated, tongue-in-cheek, magical roller-skating escapade with a joyful classic score of hits like “Magic,” “Xanadu,” “All Over the World,” and “I’m Alive.” Based on the 1980s cult film starring Olivia Newton-John, Xanadu follows muse Kira and artist Sonny in their quest for artistic achievement, in pursuit of his dreams to establish … a roller disco!

Leading the Xanadu cast: Elizabeth Stanley (Kira) returns to La Jolla Playhouse after last performing in Cry-Baby; Max Von Essen (Sonny) best known from Les Miserables and Dance of the Vampires, Larry Marshall (Danny), as well as Joanna Glushak (Calliope) and Sharon Wilkins (Melpomene) – the evil Muses. Featuring: Tallia Brinson, Amy Goldberger, Vince Rodriguez III, Jason Michael Snow, Kristofer L. Stock, JB Wing, Julius Thomas and Tiffany Topol.

XanaDU Year’s Eve, sponsored by Wolfgang Puck and Palm Beer, is a fund-raising event and proceeds will directly benefit La Jolla Playhouse New Play Development and Educational & Outreach Programs.

The nationally acclaimed, Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse is known for its tradition of creating the most exciting and adventurous new work in regional theatre. The Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, and is considered one of the most well respected not-for-profit theatres in the country. Numerous Playhouse productions have moved to Broadway, including The Farnsworth Invention, Big River, The Who’s Tommy, How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, A Walk in the Woods, Dracula, Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays, the Pulitzer-Prize winning I Am My Own Wife, and the currently running Jersey Boys.

Ticket prices are $200, $300 and $400. Gold Circle tickets include premiere seating, valet parking and an exclusive Xanadu souvenir gift. An exclusive pre-performance dinner with the artistic director is also offered. For more information, visit www.gaylesbian times.com/links/1092.