2020 Wine Country Fire Relief Fundraiser Kicks Off

 
San Francisco, CA  August 24, 2020 – Today, five wine industry marketing professionals are launching a fundraising campaign for direct relief for those in California’s wine country affected by the statewide lightning fire complex. Many wine regions throughout the state have come under siege due to the fires that unleashed in the pre-dawn hours of August 15^th. As of this writing 19 fire complexes comprising 949,697 acres total are affected. This includes the wine regions located in Alameda, Contra Costa, Lake, Monterey, Napa, Santa Clara, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties, which have experienced loss or are under threat. One week in, containment numbers are less than 20% for most of the fires, which has been recorded as the largest in terms of acreage.   

The California wine industry makes 81% of U.S. wine and is the world’s 4^th largest producer.   Representing 635,000 acres, its 3,900 wineries and 5,900 grape growers contribute approximately $114 billion annually to the U.S. economy providing 786,000 jobs and $35 billion in wages, according to the Wine Institute.

During the 2017 wine country fires, the team, comprised of Tia Butts, Katie Calhoun, Kimberly Charles, Rebecca Hopkins launched a GoFundMe campaign, raising close to $100,000 for direct relief focused on farmworkers who are a vital part of the wine industry's fabric. This campaign will have a similar objective, supporting various regions' most essential needs and is joined this year by southern California based Katherine Jarvis. A GoFundMe page has been set up at https://www.gofundme.com/f/2020-wine-country-fire-relief-fund and the team has identified a number of causes included on the attached work in progress addendum that will be in receipt of funding. In 2017,  One Hope’s CEO and Co-Founder Jake Kloberdanz provided a generous matching gift to the fund. 

For more information, please contact Charles Communications Associates at press@charlescomm.com or 415-730-0064.   Please consider donating and share this campaign with friends, colleagues and those who love and appreciate the great wines of California.   Again, contributions can be made here.

Social Media:
Follow the Facebook Page for updates: 2020 Wine Country Fire Relief Fund

Stay updated via social media on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter at:  #winecountryfirerelief and #WCFR and #2020winecountryfirerelief 

Other helpful topics to follow include:  #calfire, #california, #californiawildfire, #2020californiafires, #2020winecountryfires, #californiafires, #LNULightningComplex, #SCULightningComplex #CZULightning, #RiverFire

Organizations targeted for 2020 Wine Country Fire Relief Funding

American Red Cross
https://www.redcross.org/donate/

World Central Kitchen
https://donate.wck.org/give

Firefighters Relief - California Fire Foundation
https://linktr.ee/cafirefound
Providing emotional and financial assistance to families of fallen firefighters, firefighters and the communities they protect.

Napa County

Napa Valley Community Foundation
https://www.napavalleycf.org/

Sonoma County

Sonoma County Vintners Emergency Relief
https://sonomawine.com/foundation/

https://undocufund.org/

Sonoma Family Meal
https://www.sonomafamilymeal.org/

Monterey County

Monterey County Community Resilience Program
https://montereyco.recovers.org/

https://foodbankformontereycounty.org/

Santa Cruz and San Mateo Counties
https://www.ksbw.com/article/how-to-help-the-central-coast-fire-victims/33674589

General Info
Regular Updates on the Fires and containment
https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/