Up the ante!
They said that they would do it, and indeed they did! Raise a million dollars, that is.
The Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers Alliance set a high standard this year, and with hard work by Charlie Tsegeletos, president of the Alliance, by Grant Raeside, executive director, and his staff, and by a host of volunteers, the 15th annual Harvest Wine Auction raised a reported 1.3 million dollars over the Labor Day weekend. How often do you see something double in one year?
We’ve enjoyed the growth in the Wine Auction over the years. The incomparable Carolyn Stone reminds us that Chris Finlay, then the executive director, started the auction in 1993 as a fundraiser for the Sonoma Valley Hospital Foundation. Proceeds are now shared with other local nonprofits, such as the Boys & Girls Club, the Education Foundation, F.I.S.H. and the WillMar Center, but those proceeds sure have gotten bigger!
That’s due to the generosity of the bidders, many of whom travel from outside our community for this event, as well as the generosity, and creativity, of the donors. The good-natured rivalry between the Bundschus and the Benzigers fueled their generosity, and John Lasseter was one of the first to offer items beyond simply wine, though the wine up for auction was never simple. The variety of packages has continued to grow, and the excitement of presentation (hello, cow girls!) somehow manages to build, year after year. Among our favorites were Magnum .44 Force, whose cast members seem to get younger every year, and Landmark Vineyards, with their clever musical number.
We send hearty thanks to all those who brought and all those who bought. Your big hearts will make a big difference in our valley, an investment in our future that will be felt for years to come. Cheers!
Hospitable thoughts
We are honored by the time taken by two gentlemen we respect greatly, who in fact were honored last year with a Sunny award on behalf of the Sonoma Valley Health Care Coalition Options and Steering Committees as 2006 Citizens of the Year, to write us in response to our editorial last week. Their knowledge of the situation is extensive, and we encourage readers to ponder the points that Bob Edwards and Steve Pease make in their thoughtful letter, printed nearby.
We thought the Measure C business plan was viable at 70 beds, and we thought the Coalition’s plan at 56 beds was viable, though a specific site for it has yet to be chosen. But the business model in use seems to have been changing in the months since those plans were put forward. The formation of a new joint power authority last week, live on SVTV27, is a big deal. By working together, the district hospitals in Sebastopol, Healdsburg, Mendocino, and Sonoma hope to attract doctors to practice in a combined market much larger than any one district alone could offer. And a new component of the agreement is support for community health centers, which can provide non-urgent care to patients who might otherwise have gone to the local emergency rooms.
No, we acknowledge, it’s not a grand solution, but this incremental approach is very positive. We continue to believe that the Sonoma community will support, when the time comes, appropriate tax funding for further improvements.
