FLEMING - For eight years, “Java With The Gents” has been an evening for members of the community and members of SAVAR (Sexual Assault Victims Advocate resource) to gather and enjoy dinner and wine while drawing attention to a good cause.

“It was started by a predecessor,” said Linda Murphy, director of SAVAR. “But the idea is to recognize people in the community that work hard in the fight against violence.”

Throughout the event, guests are served wine by men from within the community, such as Sheriff Dave Gould and former Auburn Mayor Guy Cosentino.

“We have 15 gents this year,” Murphy said. “Everyone has been very generous with their time. We have a few new ones and we have some that have been doing this for a number of years. It is great the response we get. We actually get people calling us and asking if they can do this.”

Auburn school board president Michael Stearns has been a volunteer gent for four years.

“I think it is a great cause,” Stearns said. “This brings people together to help raise funds for a good cause and to talk about a good cause. And I am honored to be able to be a part of that.

Others were making their debut.

“This is my first year doing this,” Chris Petrius of Cayuga Counseling Services, said. “I love it. I love seeing all of these people out here to support something like this and I love being able to be able to be here for it.”

Murphy said getting so many noticeable figures to donate their time helps draw attention to SAVAR.

“I think everyone wants to help in the fight against violence,” Murphy said. “I think that is what gets all of these people out here to donate their time, they want to help raise awareness and draw attention to SAVAR and support what we do.”

This is an opportunity that can be an eye-opening experience.

“I work in the field,” Petrius said. “But until then I thought of this as something you see on TV, something that happens on TV. But then you begin to realize that this, violence, is something that touches the lives of so many people and so many families and it is great to be able to draw attention to that fact and help make people more aware by doing something like this.”

Alongside the wine and dinner, there was also a silent auction held to help raise funds with items donated by numerous local businesses.

“Everything goes to the running of SAVAR,” Murphy said. “People have been very generous with donations and we always have a great turnout for this and it helps with funding for everything we do. So it is really nice to see people so supportive.”

SAVAR also took the opportunity to honor Auburn native John Walsh and his wife Reve with the SAVAR Gold Award.

“We got a committee together,” Murphy said. “And we decided who we wanted to honor. We thought that the Walshes would be perfect, John is an Auburn native and they have done so much for the fight against violence to children and to all people that we thought it would be perfect.” Because of scheduling conflicts the Walshes could not attend.