Bruce Kanegai The Free Clinic of Simi Valley will hosts its 35th anniversary Gala Benefit Dinner and Auction, this year's major fundraiser tonight, Fri., Sept. 8 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, 40 Presidential Drive, Simi Valley.

A hosted wine-martini bar- hors d'oeuvres reception and tour of the library will begin at 6 p.m., followed by the dinner and auction at 7:30 p.m. Black tie is optional.

Assemblymember Keith S. Richman, 38th District, will serves as honorary chair of the benefit.

The event will include a guest appearance by Bruce Kanegai, who was a contestant on the TV reality show, "Survivor: Panama -Exile Island." A live auction item features a catered dinner for eight with Kanegai for an evening of fun and entertainment as he relates his experiences on "Survivor."

Kanegai was an award-winning art teacher at Simi Valley High School for 34 years, and is a fifth-degree black belt karate instructor.

Founded March 1, 1971, the Free Clinic has offered nonsurgical medical care, legal assistance, and individual and family counseling to 70,000 adults and children residing in Simi Valley, Moorpark, and surrounding communities, regardless of their ability to pay.

In 2005, the clinic opened a fourth service-a five-chair dental clinic, the first in eastern Ventura County.

The Free Clinic ranks as the only nonprofit institution in the County to offer four critical, professional services, and is one of the few such institutions in California.

Direct care is delivered by highly qualified professionals, most who serve as volunteers: physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, marriage and family therapist supervisors and interns, attorneys and paralegals, dentists, hygienists and dental assistants.

"We serve the uninsured working poor who have nowhere else to turn . . . . All of these people earn too much to qualify for MediCal but earn too little to afford private insurance. They now number 45.8 million people in this coun

try, with 100,000 residing in Ventura County and an estimated 10,000 in Simi Valley," said Fred Bauermeister, executive director of the Free Clinic, said.

The clinic is located at 2060 Tapo St.