Proceeds go to Direct Aid, Group Well being Facilities, and Feed the Valley. Grassini Household Vineyards was awarded this yr’s Vintner Honoree and is working to lift further cash for CHC by means of the vacations.
December 19, 2022 (Santa Barbara, Calif.) – The Santa Barbara Vintners Basis (SBVF) is happy to announce this yr’s Santa Barbara Wine Public sale for charity was a powerful success, elevating a complete of $815,000.
Proceeds will go to SBVF’s longtime philanthropic accomplice, Direct Aid, the Santa Barbara-based worldwide humanitarian group, and Group Well being Facilities of the Central Coast (CHC), which offers medical companies to Santa Barbara’s farmworker neighborhood. Proceeds additionally might be donated to Feed the Valley, which works with space eating places to finish meals insecurity for households within the Santa Ynez Valley.
“We couldn’t be extra happy with our vintners and pals, who dug deep into their pocketbooks to assist our neighborhood,” mentioned Jessica Gasca, President of the Santa Barbara Vintners Basis and founder/winemaker of Story of Soil. “Our mission is Grounded in Giving, and our goal is to deliver collectively and assist the very important work of Direct Aid, Group Well being Facilities and Feed the Valley, which all work tirelessly to serve this traditionally underserved phase of our Santa Barbara wine household.”
The Wine Public sale is the SBVF’s marquee charity occasion. Since its inaugural gala in 2000, the Wine Public sale has raised greater than $5.5 million for humanitarian organizations, together with its longtime beneficiary and accomplice, Direct Aid.
Below Gasca’s management, the SBVF helped forge a strategic partnership between Direct Aid and CHC that started on the 2020 Santa Barbara Wine Public sale and continues as we speak.
This yr’s occasion was held Nov. 11-12 at The Ritz-Carlton Bacara, the place the leaders of the Santa Barbara wine neighborhood, celebrities and philanthropists gathered for a black-tie fundraising gala. The occasion additionally included a nine-day on-line silent public sale.
Hosted by celeb Auctioneer Billy Harris, the night featured a multicourse menu by Michelin-star winner Chef Daisy Ryan, proprietor of Bells Los Alamos and Bar le Côte, in addition to art work by native painter Delmar Léon.
Fittingly, the public sale lot fetching essentially the most was a tribute dinner to late Jim Clendenen, founding father of Au Bon Climat vineyard in Santa Maria, who was honored in the course of the public sale. Clendenen, who handed immediately in 2021, is credited for serving to put Santa Barbara wine on the world stage.
Grassini Household Vineyards was named this yr’s Vintner Honoree for its neighborhood management, its dedication to the farmworker neighborhood and its ongoing philanthropic efforts. Since 2012, Grassini has raised greater than $650,000 for Santa Barbara’s charities although its annual Grassini Offers Again program.
The formal-dressed crowd erupted in cheers when Grassini’s CEO, Katie Grassini, introduced the charity recipient for this yr’s Grassini Offers Again can be Group Well being Facilities. Grassini then matched the primary $25,000 in the course of the public sale’s lightning spherical, referred to as Stand Up & Be Counted. The Stand Up & Be Counted spherical finally raised greater than $127,000.
The Grassini Offers Again drive for CHC will proceed by means of December. To donate or be taught extra, please go to GrassiniGivesBack.com.
From left, Auctioneer Billy Harris, Dean McKillen and Katie Grassini, Chef Daisy Ryan, SBWA Artist of the Yr Delmar Léon, SBWA Public sale President Jessica Gasca, CEO of Direct Aid Thomas Tighe, and Ron Citadel, CEO of Group Well being Facilities of the Central Coast.
About Santa Barbara Wine Public sale
The Santa Barbara Vintners Basis is the philanthropic arm of the Santa Barbara Vintners and is Grounded in Giving. The biennial Santa Barbara Wine Public sale is the Basis’s marquee charity occasion. Since its inaugural gala in 2000, the Public sale has raised greater than $5 million for humanitarian organizations. The 2022 Wine Public sale marked the twelfth yr of gathering collectively to assist, strengthen and provides again to its neighborhood.sbvf.org
