Pinot Days is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of domestic pinot noir.  Every year Pinot Days conducts a large-scale wine auction at our San Francisco event, the proceeds of which subsidize the ongoing operation of Pinot Days, as well as supporting a charity through the IOCC, a humanitarian relief organization established as the official international humanitarian organization of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA). The work of the IOCC is purely secular in nature, serving the physical needs of those  in the most dire circumstances.  The IOCC gives 92% of the monies raised directly to the particular cause for which it has been raised, reserving only 8% for those who actually administer the aid.  (Go to www.iocc.org.)

Last year the Pinot Days Charity Auction raised $14,000 for the Tanzanian Women’s Sewing Project,  which is a new trade school for destitute African women (the majority of them mothers), the work of which will enable these women to sustain themselves and their families, empowering them for economic independence within a system of poverty and disease.  Our contribution was made possible by our pinot producers, and their generous donations to the Pinot Days Auction. 

This year we aim to raise at least $10,000 to support Ethiopia’s HIV Victim Food Relief Effort.  While there are programs in place that administer necessary medications to Ethiopian victims of HIV, these medications cannot be taken without food, and food is tragically scarce, and therefore providing food becomes the first essential step in administering care.

Pinot Days Charity Auction Beneficiary:  Ethiopia’s HIV Victim Food Relief Effort

THE PROGRAM:  Since 2004, the IOCC’s HIV/AIDS program in Ethiopia has reached and served 9.2 million individuals with prevention and awareness activities.  IOCC now has 642 trained volunteers in HIV/AIDS home based care and they have been able to provide services to 18,811 individuals with palliative care services since 2004.    The HIV/AIDS home based care and support component provides palliative care to people living with HIV (PLHIV) and it includes and goes beyond the medical management of infection, comprehensively addressing symptoms and suffering throughout the continuum of illness.  The means by which this is achieved will vary according to stage of illness but always with the understanding that quality of life involves clinical, psychological, social, and prevention care.  Prevention care services are also provided designed to prevent transmission of HIV to others. 

THE NEED FOR FOOD:  Although care and support programs for PLHIV are widely implemented throughout Ethiopia by many non-government organizations such as the IOCC, the work being done in addressing food insecurity among these individuals has always been insufficient.  In some instance, IOCC program volunteers work with local restaurants and businesses to acquire food for their bedridden patients.  IOCC's HIV program also provides PLHIV with small business training and seed money and helps set-up income generating activities.  However, these income generating activities often fail since the seed money gets depleted by care for HIV related illnesses.  For income generating activities to work and for bedridden PLHIV to go back to their normal routines with the help of anti-retroviral treatments, food relief becomes the very first step.

OUR GOAL:  A funding level of $10,000 USD, at a little less than a dollar a day, can provide nutritional support to an estimated 100 HIV positive individuals for three months.   We seek to raise this level of money for this effort.
  
HOW YOU CAN HELP:  Our pinot producers donate wine and pinot-related experiences, and you bid on them and feel good not only about your winnings, but about your contribution, your ability to give in light of how much we all have, and how very much others lack.  Thanks in advance for your support.   

Pinot Days Charity Auction Beneficiary:  Operation and Expansion of Pinot Days

The proceeds from the Pinot Days Grand Tasting Auction will support the ongoing operation and expansion of Pinot Days.  Pinot Days is a U.S. government-recognized non-profit whose mission is to advance and promote domestic Pinot Noir.  We do this by creating opportunities for pinot producers to pour their wines both to the public and the buying trade, and by writing about pinot noir and publishing our articles on the Pinot Days website.  Monies raised to support Pinot Days are used to cover event production costs, expansion to other U.S. cities (Houston, Boston), the expansion of the Pinot Days website to include articles, features and manifold pinot resources, and the creation and production of smaller Pinot Days events throughout the year such as winemaker dinners, thematic tastings, and the continued development of our website, which is an educational resource, providing a wealth of information regarding pinot-producing wineries, regions and appellations, clones and other specific information that is essential to fully appreciate pinot noir. 

Pinot Days Grand Tasting Auction Beneficiary:  Operation and Expansion of Pinot Days

The proceeds from the Pinot Days Grand Tasting Auction will support the ongoing operation and expansion of Pinot Days.  Pinot Days is a U.S. government-recognized non-profit whose mission is to advance and promote domestic Pinot Noir.  We do this by creating opportunities for pinot producers to pour their wines both to the public and the buying trade, and by writing about pinot noir and publishing our articles on the Pinot Days website.  Monies raised to support Pinot Days are used to cover event production costs, expansion to other U.S. cities (New York, Chicago, and eventually Dallas, Atlanta, Denver, Las Vegas), the Pinot Days Newsletter (which we will publish monthly when funds permit), the creation and production of smaller Pinot Days events throughout the year such as winemaker dinners, thematic tastings, and the continued development of our website, which is an educational resource, providing a wealth of information regarding pinot-producing wineries, regions and appellations, clones and other specific information that is essential to fully appreciate pinot noir.