Wine to Water...

note: I dislike blogger. I edit my pics to have the right layout and when I upload them, it's still WRONG. Please understand that blogger is goofing it up, not me. Now, that I vented about that, back to my regularly scheduled post.



Let me start by saying that I am so thankful for my dear friend, Oscar. He's the owner of Ramos Torres Winery. And not only does he make amazing wines, he makes some great hors d'ouvres too. The tri-tip was amazing and if I wasn't so busy chatting, I would have loved the rest of the food too. Anyway, thank you Oscar for the many ways you served, and gave, to the wine social fundraiser.

A wine social. What's that? Who goes to those? The wine social was mostly a hang out time. In a winery. With wine. And food. But not everyone was drinking wine. In fact, I know of at least 4 people who had no wine to drink at all. Yet they came to socliaze and hear about my work with FOVC. I'm thankful to my friends and family who showed up. Thankful to know that God is working in the hearts of some and I could provide some information and encouragement. And they could see that average people like me can do something.


We socliazed. Laughed. I even gave a brief little presentation. I could talk all night long about the work that I'm a part of through FOVC in Ethiopia. But I'm not huge on being the center of attention (unless I'm cracking a joke). So, I wasn't overly comfortable with that. And I would have done much better if I'd had a little outline. I hope my simple words were an encouragement to the others to get involved.

We also had a little silent auction on the side. I've been burned by an auction before but I thought a hand full of items would be really helpful. Oscar donated a wine gift basket and Ryan and I donated some Ethiopian items like cofee and necklaces. My friend Denise donated some Ethiopian art blank cards and some ethiopian necklaces.

For those looking to do a fundraiser, here's what I liked that we did and what I didn't like. I'll share the negatives just so you can learn from my deficiencies. I partnered with a reputable winery. A local winery. With someone who was willing to help. The hard part is though it was local to my growing-up home, I wasn't there to work on details and sell tickets. Next time I'll look to partner with several friends who are eager to sell tickets. The event was before the holiday season which means that items for purchase would have been a great opportunity to buy Christmas presents. Timing was bad in that two classmates were getting married that same night which took some friends away. Timing was also bad in that it was very close to my return from Ethiopia and the weeks prior to the wine social were given to the Ethiopia trip. I also loved the idea of socializing for an hour, then welcoming everyone and giving a short presentation. I could have improved on my presentation. I needed to have somone who was responsible to host while I was busy chatting. My friend, Kristine, helped take money and greeted people as they walked in. But, I could have also used someone to keep track of time, make sure water was on the table, and welcome everyone to the party. I wasn't able to do that well and chat with people. The other thing I would change is to show pictures, not just have a slide show on my lap top off to the side.

This was my first time. I know. I need to give myself a bit of a break. It went well. I'm thankful. We were able to raise money from the sale of the tickets and the silent auction. The money raised will go towards helping me get back to Ethiopia for the next time where I plan to set up some water catchment basins and drip irrigation systems. I'm looking forward to it. Friends, this wine social raised money for water... I'm not Jesus and can't turn water to wine or wine directly to water. But, with the help of those in attendance, this wine social will be bringing water to the crops or widows program. Thank you.

For those who are interested in giving a donation towards my involvement with the crops for widows program, checks may be written to FOVC and mailed to me. Email me if you need my address. Checks written to FOVC are tax deductible. Thank you!