In this season of giving, we are reminded to do what we can to improve the lives of those less fortunate. Residents on the Central Coast have generously raised millions of dollars over the years, allowing nonprofit groups to do their important work.
It is worth mentioning that the local restaurant and wine industries contribute to our community all year long, not just around the holidays—and in a very big way.
“The wineries ‘pay it forward’ probably more than any other business in the area,” said Chris Slaughter, executive director of the Santa Maria Valley Wine Country Association. “They are approached to donate for virtually every fundraiser, and they give all the time. Without the wineries, charitable events wouldn’t be nearly as successful.”
The examples are endless: Last month, 19 Santa Barbara County wineries each donated six cases of wine, and some gave financial support to the annual Vino de Sueños “Wine of Dreams” fundraiser in Buellton, in celebration of local vineyard and farm workers.
They raised more than $60,000 to provide basic needs and family support services for wine industry workers and their children, including food, emergency rent and utility services, medical and dental care, and college scholarships.
“Our county and San Luis Obispo County are unique, recognizing that without vineyard workers there wouldn’t be wineries,” said Dean Palius, CEO of People Helping People, which conceived the Vino de Sueños project and administers the funds. “They are the heart and soul of the industry.”
Over the last four years, they’ve raised $200,000 from the annual event in an effort to give back to the people who skillfully prune the vines and pick the grapes.
Since 2002, the Santa Barbara County Vintners’ Foundation has raised more than $500,000 for college scholarships and for charitable organizations throughout the county, including Direct Relief International, the American Red Cross, the county food bank, and PCPA, among others.
Alta Maria Vineyards in Santa Maria donated all of the wine for the Santa Maria Valley Discovery Museum’s recent Halloween Bippity Boppity Boo Ball. The winery helped ensure the fundraiser was a financial success by donating six cases of its ultra-premium wines and two signed magnums. The event raised more than $30,000 for museum improvements.
It’s a cause that’s near and dear to Alta Maria’s winemaker.
“Paul Wilkins was a board member at the museum. The wine community is supportive of children’s charities, and Paul isn’t afraid to ask his colleagues to help, too,” said Kelly White O’Neill, executive director of the Discovery Museum.
There may be no finer example than the one set by local wine and beer producer Adam Firestone. He founded a wine company with fellow Marine and vineyard foreman Ruben Dominguez with the sole purpose of raising scholarship money for children of U.S. Marines.
The label is called Jarhead Wines—made by Marines, for Marines. Their website states, “The Marines build character. We bottle it.”
“It’s not a novelty item, but something we’re very passionate about,” said Firestone, a former captain in the Marine Corps who was deployed to Iraq and Kuwait in 1991.
Firestone came up with the idea in 1999. The net proceeds from the sale of each bottle of Jarhead Wine support the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, which provides educational assistance to children of U.S. Marines, with special consideration given to families of fallen Marines.
Three-thousand, five-hundred cases of Jarhead Wines are produced each year at $15 a bottle. So far, they’ve raised a half million dollars, said Firestone, Jarhead Wine’s “Company Commander.”
“For me to be a part of the Jarhead Red program is something very special,” said Chuck Carlson, general manager of Curtis Winery in Los Olivos, where the wines are made. “It gives us all a special feeling, knowing that we are a part of something that continues to touch the lives of those who have served.”
They produce a robust red table wine dubbed Jarhead Red, and last year, they started making Jarhead Chard. The website states, “Chardonnay was added in 2010 because even Marines know that red wine doesn’t always go with fish.”
The wine is distributed nationwide and is available for purchase at jarheadred.com. Customers who enlist in the Jarhead wine club receive shipments in early November, just in time for the birthday of the Marine Corps on Nov. 10, and approximately six months later in May, in honor of Memorial Day.
Cambria Winery in Santa Maria is spearheading a fundraiser this month. They’ve pledged to raise $20,000 by the end of the year for First Book, a nonprofit organization that connects book publishers and community organizations to provide access to new books for children in need.
Using a text-to-donate program, First Book will be able to donate 10,000 new books to pre-schools, reading programs, and classrooms in need across the country. Cambria Winery is asking customers to text the word “FIRSTBOOK” to 20222, and a $5 donation is added to their phone bill.
“We chose First Book because my family has always been very interested in supporting education and literacy, and I love reading,” said Cambria spokesperson Katie Jackson. “And so, being able to work with an international literacy organization like First Book, which reaches people across the country, was very exiting.
“We thought it was a good tie-in with Cambria. It’s just something we care deeply about,” said Jackson, daughter of Barbara Banke and the late Jess Jackson, founders of Kendall Jackson Winery in Sonoma County, one of the largest wine producers in the United States.
Her parents started Cambria Winery in 1986.
Cambria also holds a book drive in the tasting room each September. Customers who donated a book were given free wine tasting. Cambria collected a barrel and a half of books, which were given to Altrusa in San Luis Obispo and Head Start in Santa Maria. For more information on the campaign, go to cambriawines.com.
This is just a small sample of our neighbors in the wine industry giving to the greater good.
“It is good for people in the area to understand the magnitude of giving from the wineries and to support them by visiting their tasting rooms, bringing out-of-town guests to their tasting rooms, and joining their favorite wine clubs,” Slaughter said.
Sun wine and food writer Wendy Thies Sell’s favorite wineries are usually the ones operated by the nicest people—not by coincidence. Be charitable with your story ideas by e-mailing her at wthies@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 1-8, 2011.