On Saturday, August 29, there are two opportunities where you can Eat For a Cause and help women at the same time! Don’t let the weather predictions for some rain and wind deter you.

Ruby Jewel Hawthorne, benefiting Raphael House

First, there is the Grand Opening of the new location of Ruby Jewel Ice Cream at SE Hawthorne, in the Mount Tabor neighborhood. The 4707 SE Hawthorne location is right between Por Que No and Apizza Scholls, both famous restaurants that will be open for lunch (as well as dinner). So then come on over for dessert because as part of their Grand Opening, a percentage of the proceeds goes towards Raphael House, a Domestic Violence agency.

Founded in 1977, Raphael House of Portland is dedicated to fighting the causes and effects of domestic violence. They offer emergency shelter in a confidential location, a 24-hour in-house crisis line, transitional housing and advocacy programs, non-residential advocacy in partnership with the Portland Police Bureau, and also work to bring an end to violence through community outreach and education. Raphael House is the largest domestic violence shelter in Multnomah County. Annually, Raphael House provides 10,000 safe nights for women and children in their emergency shelter and support as many as 5,000 callers on their 24/7 crisis line.

Ruby Jewel Hawthorne will be open noon – 11 PM, so you have plenty of time during the day to make your way here. As part of the celebration, they will have live music by Mo Phillips from 2-4 PM and also a special Mt Tabor Volcano Sundae which you can see previewed by Drew Karney of KGW here and you can see posed here… The Mt Tabor Volcano Sundae is a 2 scoops of ice cream (your choice) with an upside down “volcano” cone, hardening chocolate sauce, double chocolate cookies, and fresh strawberry sauce and whipped cream.

Thanks to @kgwnews and @drewcarneykgw for stopping by this morning! We can’t wait to see everyone at our Hawthorne grand opening on Saturday from noon – 11pm! 4703 SE Hawthorne Blvd. #RubyJewelGO 📷 #Regram of @drewcarneykgw “Mount Tabor Volcano Sundae at @rubyjewelicecream on @kgwnews #rubyjewel #hawthorne #scoopingsoon #icecream #kgwsummer”

A photo posted by Ruby Jewel Ice Cream (@rubyjewelicecream) on Aug 26, 2015 at 9:24am PDT

Special flavors above and beyond their regular flavors include

September Seasonal Ice Cream

• Chocolate Chip Squared– Singing Dog Vanilla ice cream with mini dark chocolate chips and chunks of housemade chocolate chip cookies.
• Double Chocolate Toffee Crunch– Ruby Jewel’s classic Double Chocolate ice cream studded with house-made, chocolate-topped toffee.
• Coconut Cream Pie– toasted coconut based ice cream filled with swirls of marshmallow fluff, candied coconut and vanilla wafer cookie crumbs.
• Hazelnut Latte– Nossa Familia’s Full Cycle Blend coffee is paired with Oregon hazelnuts for a smooth coffee treat.
• Honey Pistachio– Bee Local’s Oregon High Desert honey and pistachio ice cream with roasted pistachios.
• PB & J Sandwich– Peanut butter ice cream with housemade Concord grape jelly and challah bread croutons.

Dairy Free

• Portland Soda Works Root Beer Ice– Indian sarsaparilla and warming spices of Portland Soda Works root beer syrups used for sodas, cocktails and now a refreshing, nostalgic ice!
• Reverend Nat’s Revival Cider Ice– Bold, crisp and full of apple flavor.

Potential Ice Cream Sundae Combos

At a media preview, I also got to try some great sundae combinations if you are looking for some ideas. For instance a Chocolate Chip Squared Ice Cream with Caramel Sauce and Praline Pecans with Whipped Cream and an Oregon Strawberry Ice Cream topped with Housemade Marshmallow Fluff and Crisp Chunks (these are mini sample sundaes, the ones you get will be much bigger ;D ). I didn’t try this myself, but there is also for your consideration the combo of Hazelnut Latte ice cream with chocolate dip, whipped cream, and espresso caramel sauce…

Winning Cookie Sandwich!

They also debuted the winning social media contest winner of the #betweentwocookies suggestions from the public: the winner is chocolate chip fudge chunk cookies with fluffernutter ice cream submitted by Chris Zales.

Dairy Free Ice Cream Floats

They also had two wonderful ice cocktails (aka the dairy free ice creams float): Reverend Nat’s Revival Cider Ice combined with Prosecco (YUM) and the Portland Soda Works Root Beer Ice with rum, root beer syrup and orange liquor (quite a bit stronger than prosecco).
   

EastBurn, benefiting Portland Women’s Crisis Line

Next, hop on over to Eastburn at 1800 East Burnside Street for their 2nd Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational! 9 establishments throw down at EastBurn to see who has the best grilled cheese.

Participants include so far

• Meat Cheese Bread
• Bazi Bier Brasserie
• Brunch Box
• Big Ass Sandwiches
• Gaufre Gourmet
• Zeek’s Cheese Grill
• The Blue Plate
• Gil’s Speakeasy

It’s 5-11 PM and all ages. A $20 ticket gets you a scorecard, where you will then go to each competitor’s hole (apparently it’s set up like a golf course, thus the golf club with a grilled cheese in the poster) to try each grilled cheese. Then, you rate their grilled cheese based on taste, originality, presentation and best overall.

All proceeds go to the Portland Women’s Crisis Line. The Portland Women’s Crisis Line (PWCL) was one of the first five sexual violence crisis lines in the United States. PWCL provides services to the Tri-County area made up of Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington counties, and its toll-free number can be called from anywhere in the state. PWCL provides social services such as crisis intervention, in person response for survivors of sexual violence, emergency housing resources, danger to safety transportation assistance, safety planning, advocacy and support, and agency and community support groups, as well as being a social change organize to not only empower those who experience violence, but also to end the oppression and violence which causes them to seek out our services.

If you can’t make the invitational, at least stop by during the month of August (I know, only a few days left) because every $5 Grilled Cheese at Eastburn this month also has the proceeds go towards PWCL.

One of my favorite things about Eastburn are their swing seats, which you can find by the front windows when you first walk in and also in their back patio!

I hope you can join me in eating for a cause in supporting both of these very important and worthy non profits and help them continue to make a difference every day.

Disclosure: I was invited to a media event for Ruby Jewel Hawthorne’s Grand Opening to preview the September flavors and menu offerings, but I was not asked to write this post, and I threw in EastBurn as well because I think both are amazing events that you might consider for Saturday. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own.