The holiday season is always a great time to pull some corks, twist some caps or tap a box, whatever the case may be, and enjoy the fruits of a winemaker’s labor.
These are also appropriate times for reflection, and one of the things that I’ve reflected upon lately is just how much the wine industry, as a whole, has done for philanthropy.
It always amazes me how much wine, and the justified romance that surrounds fermented grape juice, helps raise much needed funds for a multitude of deserving causes. It only stands to reason that if the presence of wine at an auction or any other fundraising endeavor propels the effort substantially north of breaking even, than this is going to be a popular formula.
After all, nothing is more plagiarized than success. But, as I’ve been involved with the wine industry over the past many moons, it seemed that there could be a slight diminishing of enthusiasm based on saturation.
Quite the contrary. In fact, the marriage of philanthropy and the wine industry has never been stronger and that warms this cork dork’s heart.
One such story of elevated empathy from a winery and winemaker came along recently and involved a donation to a cause is something I’ve felt strongly about since I was a kid.
My first introduction to hospice was after my hero, best friend and dad died and I turned to his best friend as a somewhat of a surrogate, sub dad. Long before there were Tuesdays with Morrie, I had Fridays with Art.
Art had been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease years before my dad died and was using a wheelchair at “Big Wick’s” funeral. I began making the trek to Bremerton soon after to plug back into the unyielding wit and wisdom that Art shared with my dad.
One of my favorite Wickisms is that “water seeks its own level,” and I believe that also applies to wine. The grace, competency and most importantly, humor that I witnessed with the hospice caregivers in Bremerton a quarter-century ago has stayed with me ever since.
Hospice is a good thing. And so, flash forward to a donation request I made recently to my good buddy John Bell of Willis Hall Winery for some juice to juice up an auction for Hospice of Whatcom County that I’m working on. The empathy bar was raised.
John stepped up with the kind of donation that can only radiate from the heart and not a business plan, and for that I’m as grateful as the hard-working folks at the hospice.
Wine can be a magical elixir on so many levels, and I hope that this holiday season will allow you to reflect on a little bit of that magic.
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