LIVE Magazine Issue #267 February 8, 2018

2018 Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards
Honoring
Community
Members
in Action
PALM SPRINGS, CA This year’s awards will
shine a bright spotlight on local community
members who’ve dedicated their time, talent
and energy to ensuring Desert AIDS Project
(D.A.P.) is able to provide compassionate care
to those who need it most. We are excited to
announce Tony Marchese, owner of TRIO
Restaurant, will receive the Partners for Life
Award, and Dr. Shubha Kerkar, Sr. Physician
Specialist, will be recognized with the 100
Women Award.
Call here to reserve your place at the
party for the 24th Annual Steve Chase
Humanitarian Awards: 760-992-0445.
Now in its 24th year, the Steve Chase Humanitarian
Awards gala has raised millions of dollars
to care for people living with HIV. First organized
by and named for famed interior designer
Steve Chase – a former D.A.P. donor, volunteer,
and board member – the gala is a highlight of
the desert social season and preceded the night
prior by an exclusive VIP pre-party honoring
major donors and celebrity guests.
Tony Marchese is the co-producer, with Palm
Springs Life Magazine, of the Palm Desert
Food and Wine Festival, a weekend-long event
with over 4000 guests and growing. He also
serves on the boards of Palm Springs Hospitality
Association, and AAP Food Samaritans. He has
supported Desert AIDS Project for many years
by competing in Dancing with the Desert Stars,
raising funds for Desert AIDS Walk as ‘Team
Trio’, and participating in the annual Dining Out
for Life Event . More than sixty restaurants participated
in Dining Out for Life Coachella Valley
in 2017, raising $230,000 for client services at
D.A.P. Because of the generosity of participating
restaurant owners and diners, D.A.P. ranks
third in overall fundraising as compared to 52
other participating U.S. cities. Trio Restaurant is
consistently in the top three of local fundraising
restaurants donating 60% of revenue that day to
Desert AIDS Project.
Tony’s early career was in Chicago where he
was both a successful restaurateur and real
estate professional. He won awards for both Top
20 Best New Restaurants in Chicago Magazine
for his upscale Brazilian Restaurant, Rhumba,
and top sales awards for 15 years for his Keller
Tony Marchese
Williams Office.
At age 40, Tony decided to leave the cold and
move to Palm Springs. He continued in real
estate but realized that people come to Palm
Springs for the experience, and his true passion
was reborn in the restaurant business. He
opened Trio restaurant, “Where Palm Springs
Eats,” with Mark Van Lannen in 2009. Mark
decided to take a business turn toward a fine
foods market and left Trio in 2017. TRIO has garnered
recognition as one of Palm Springs’ top
restaurants and hot spots by numerous lifestyle
and travel publications and websites. Shortly
after their grand opening, TRIO was named
one of Palm Springs Best New Restaurants by
Palm Springs Life Magazine in 2010. TRIO is
also listed among TripAdvisor’s Top 10 Percent
of Restaurants Worldwide, Open Table’s Top
100 Hot Spots in America, 2017 Expert Choice
Award and is Zagat Rated as Very Good to
Excellent. Since then Tony has also expanded
his business opportunities into Liquid Catering-
a full-service beverage and event catering
business.
Tony is very excited about what’s coming next
for him, he is partnering with Chef Andrew Copley
and Juliana Copley of Copley’s restaurant
to create a new restaurant experience in Palm
Desert, CA, called AC3 Restaurant + Bar, New
American food with a twist. Opening January
2018.
Dr. Shubha Kerkar has been making the lives
of D.A.P. clients better for 25 years. She moved
to Palm Springs in 1990 after completing her
medical degree in Philadelphia, specializing
in internal medicine at Episcopal Hospital,
followed by a fellowship in infectious diseases
at Hahnemann University Hospital. She started
her career as an infectious diseases consultant
and served as Director of Infection Control
at Desert Regional Medical Center (DRMC).
Soon after, she began volunteering at D.A.P.,
at the time only a small clinic on Vella Road
near the airport. In 1993, she joined D.A.P. as a
part-time infectious disease consultant. In 2008,
she became one of the founding members of
the 100 Women Charitable Foundation, which
provides assistance to women and children with
HIV/AIDS.