LAKEPORT— The Lake County Wine Alliance gathered the organizations benefitting from fundraising efforts at the Soper Reese Theatre in Lakeport on Wednesday to celebrate their fundraising success through the 2023 Wine Auction. Through collaborative community efforts, as well as help from their many sponsors, the organization disbursed checks to 41 local groups totaling almost a quarter million dollars.
This year’s event was hosted by Wine Alliance Treasurer Robert Roumiguiere who graciously detailed that the food, desserts and decor were presented by their sponsor Lake Event Design. Throughout the evening Roumiguiere and the Wine Alliance thanked their many sponsors including Lake County Tribal Health, Adventist Health, Sutter Lakeside Health, Calpine, and a long list of others, all of which are vital to the Alliance’s ability to support these local organizations. Roumiguiere also provided some background on each organization benefitting from the funding as they were awarded their payments. Congressman Mike Thompson made an appearance via zoom making a short speech on behalf of the Wine Alliance and highlighting the successful work that they do. Thompson shared “I want to thank all the volunteers that make this happen as well as the amazing wine community here.”
Every year in September the Lake County Wine Alliance hosts its annual Wine Auction, where the entire industry participates in a live auction style fundraiser with dinner, raffles, and donations throughout the night. Every year the goal is to increase funds from the previous year with a total of $226,000 raised for donation at this year’s auction.
These funds are divided almost equally among their 41 benefitting organizations. According to a press release from the alliance, “All five high schools’ fine arts programs and the four high schools’ FFA programs receive one third of the total funds.” Other educational programs that were awarded include the Clear Lake High School Culinary Program, Woodland Community College Culinary Program, Friends of Lake County Library, Jack’s Lavender Farm, Lake County Sheriff’s Activities League, Lake County Channel Cats, and the Lake County Youth Symphony. Roumiguiere said, “It is a passion of our board to continue to support the arts in these schools, which we have been told wouldn’t exist without our donations.”
Many of these educational groups are involved in the Wine Auction as well including Jack’s Lavender Farm, a high school farming non profit that aims to cultivate opportunity for Lake County teens, who served dinner and bussed the tables. The Woodland Community College Culinary Cafe Aroma’s cooked up some appetizers and the Lower Lake and Clear Lake High School Culinary teams had a hand in making and serving the dessert.
Awards were also given to nonprofit groups like Operation Tango Mike which sends care packages to deployed troops, and Operation Santa which makes Christmas magic for local kids in need around the holidays. Other benefactors were Hospice who is known for their compassionate care, and the Lake Family Resource Center who provide a multitude of services for families. Several other groups including the United Veterans Council, Lakeport Volunteer Firefighter’s Association, Northshore Fire Fund, and Konocti Fire Safe Council also received awards.
Next year’s Wine Auction will be held at the Mercantile by Shannon Family of Wines on Sept. 21 2024 for the second year in a row as Roumiguiere said, “We like to jump around and showcase all of the Lake County wine industry.”
