Community members will be able to raise funds to support local residents experiencing cancer-related hardships at the upcoming benefit gala, Grapes & Gratitude.

Raising money and awareness Tri-Valley nonprofit Culinary Angels, the annual Grapes & Gratitude event this year will be hosted at the McGrail Winery in Livermore on Oct. 8 from 6-10 p.m. Guests can expect food, wine and live entertainment throughout the night.

Based in Livermore, Culinary Angels provides meal and food assistance to individuals diagnosed with cancer across the Tri-Valley region. Caregivers of cancer patients are also included in the group's service.

Culinary Angels was founded in 2016 by Lisa McNaney, a survivor of cancer herself, to address the lack of nutritional-focused treatment plans. According to the nonprofit's website, cooks are trained to utilize organic, nutrient-rich and seasonal ingredients in their meal designs.

"McNaney realized that medical teams primarily focused on calorie intake rather than actual nutrition. This observation inspired Culinary Angels as basis for providing healthy, healing meals made with essential ingredients that promote wellness," the organization stated in a press release.

In addition, Culinary Angels delivers the meals free to its recipients in order to ease their respective healing journeys.

With the organization being largely volunteer- and donation-based, the yearly gala benefit is vital to the program's success. McNaney spoke on the importance of high quality nutrition and food ingredients for the organization. The gala's proceeds help contribute to those costs.

"Our annual gala is critical to the viability of our programs as it allows us to continue to use quality ingredients in the meals prepared for our recipients, and tackle the cost increases of the current economy," McNaney said. "We are very excited to host this year's event."

McNaney continued, highlighting the gala's activities, "(it is) brimming with exceptional live auction items, amazing musical talent, and an extraordinary Farm to Table dinner."

A ticket for the event includes dinner, wine and live music performed by Meredith McHenry and her supporting musicians.

Gala tickets and more information about Culinary Angels can be found at Culinaryangels.org.