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On Sunday, a champagne brunch will serve a chance to help hundreds of people in the community by supporting the Emergency Money Fund.

"We gave $10,000 a month last year," event chairwoman Rita Ringle said of EMF's assistance to residents faced with immediate financial needs.

The annual Champagne Brunch will from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Oct. 22 at Berkeley Square Retirement Community on NW Washington Boulevard in Hamilton. The cost is $30 per person and it is open to the public.

The nonprofit organization is completely voluntary and has no overhead costs or administrative expenses.

According to officials, 100 percent of the proceeds raised goes toward people in need. The funds are administered through Mercy Franciscan at St. Raphael to pay for utilities, rent or other emergency needs. Up to $300 can serve an individual or family as a one-time gift.

The EMF is made up of board members from city, county, business and community leaders in Butler County.

The breakfast has been an annual event since the organization was founded more than 30 years ago, said EMF Board President Bruce Jewett

"It's our primary way we let people about Emergency Money Fund and raise money at the same time," said Jewett, director of Butler County Department of Job and Family

Services.

The EMF was formed by a small group of local residents in 1975. Among the founding members was the late Eva Lande, a Hamilton philanthropist who died in February 2005 at age 95.

Ringle says it was Lande who introduced her to the EMF board several years ago.

"She said she thought this was something I'd be interested in," said Ringle, a longtime Hamilton resident who remains active in the community. "There's always a growing need (of people needing financial assistance)."

For Ringle — who not only coordinates the recipes and other food, but prepares all the desserts, the EMF brunch means turning her kitchen into as assembly line. As the brunch draws near, Ringle has been busy baking chocolate chips cookies, whisky balls, mini-cheesecakes, brownies, oatmeal-raisin spice cookies, M&M chip cookies, thumbprints, "forgotten cookies" and more.

While other volunteers are preparing the rest of the menu — with recipes selected and coordinated by Ringle — the desserts are all Ringle's work.

And even Ringle is unsure of the total amount.

"It's a lot, " she laughed. "They can have as many cookies as they want!"

For more information about the Emergency Money Fund or to make a donation, please send to: Emergency Money Fund, P.O. Box 142, Hamilton, OH 45012. Checks to hold reservations to the brunch may be sent to Emergency Money Fund, 24 Alton Circle, Hamilton, OH 45013. For more information, call (513) 863-4461.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2180 or ch

ubbard

@coxohio.com.