events to benefit Share Our Strength: Two upcoming events will benefit Share Our Strength, a nonprofit organization whose No Kid Hungry campaign strives to end childhood hunger in the United States by 2015.

Share Our Strength Seacoast’s fundraising campaign, which includes Taste of the Nation Portsmouth and the Share Your Love Dinner, raised more than $140,000 last year for nonprofit organizations connecting hungry children with healthy food. Recipients included the Children’s Alliance of New Hampshire, Food Solutions New England, Footprints Food Pantry, New Hampshire Farm to School, New Hampshire Food Bank, Rockingham Community Action, the Seacoast Family Food Pantry and Strafford County Community Action.

Tickets to this year’s Share Your Love Dinner are available now for $100 per person. It takes place on Wednesday, Feb. 8, from 6:30 to 10 p.m., at When Pigs Fly Pizzeria on Route 1 in Kittery, Maine. For more information, visit www.strength.org/portsmouth.

The Redhook Brewery and The Meat House have organized the first ever Polar Grill Fest to celebrate the coldest season in New England while fighting child hunger. All proceeds will benefit Share Our Strength.

Polar Grill Fest 2012 will have outdoor bars, heated tents, fire pits, live music, and plenty of grilled food and beer. The 21-plus event will be held on Saturday, Jan. 28, from 1 to 5 p.m., at the Redhook Brewery, 35 Corporate Drive, Portsmouth.

Admission is $5, not including food or beverages. Top local restaurants will be cooking up favorites for $5 per plate with $5 Redhook beers. For more information, visit www.polargrillfest.com.

Since 1994, Share Our Strength Seacoast has raised more than $1.2 million for hunger relief organizations. In addition to meeting urgent food needs, funds go toward addressing the causes of hunger to assure long-term access. 

Fundraising has also supported local Cooking Matters courses, a Share Our Strength program that teaches families to prepare healthy and affordable meals.

cheese and wine fundraiser: Max McCalman, one of America’s preeminent experts on cheese, is hosting a cheese and wine tasting at Great Bay Community College on Tuesday, Feb. 7.

The fundraiser is part of the college’s Leadership Speaker Series, which offers the opportunity to hear leaders in their field discuss their success stories and philosophies, as well as current issues and trends that relate to their industries.

In addition to sampling pairings of artisanal cheese and fine wine, attendees will hear commentary from McCalman, a veteran of the food and hospitality industries. He was America’s first restaurant-based Maître Fromager, serves as a consultant to the trade, and is a lecturer at culinary schools.  

McCalman’s second book, “Cheese: A Connoisseur’s Guide to the World’s Best,” won Best Reference Book at the 2006 James Beard Foundation Awards. Signed copies will be available at the event.

The 21-plus event takes place from 7 to 9 p.m. at Great Bay Community College, 320 Corporate Drive, Portsmouth. Tickets are $35 ($10 for Great Bay students); contact Laura Mitchell at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 603-427-7602.

Winter Wine Festival announced: The annual Winter Wine Festival at Wentworth by the Sea in New Castle is a seven-week event for both connoisseurs and novices to meet renowned luminaries in the culinary and wine worlds and sample their recommendations.

The schedule includes grand vintner’s dinners, flight nights, rare vintage tastings, celebrity chefs and winemakers, classes, Bubbles and Jazz Sunday brunches, and educational seminars with notable oenophiles.

The festival begins on Friday, Feb. 3, with the eighth annual Grand Tasting Reception at 7 p.m. Guests can sample hundreds of wines from around the world with hors d’oeuvres prepared by chefs from area restaurants. Admission is $69.95, plus tax and service charges.

Events run throughout the following week, until the Grand Closing Vintner’s Dinner on Saturday, March 17. The full schedule is at www.wentworth.com.