On May 3, 2018, Berryessa Gap Vineyards is partnering with Winters Friends of the Library (WFoL) for their 5th Big Day of Giving Campaign.
Berryessa Gap is offering $5 glasses of wine all day at the downtown tasting room at 15 Main Street with 10% of proceeds donated to Winters Friends of the Library.
From 5-9 pm join us for appetizers to go with your wine purchase as the tasting room turns into WFoL #BDOG2018 Headquarters. Sip and snack as you watch the leaderboard, encourage more donations, and celebrate giving together to open doors to opportunities for our community.
How did this partnership begin?
In 2014 when the Winters Friends of the Library (WFoL) decided to participate in the Big Day of Giving for the first time, they were unsure how to use technology and social media to raise lots of money in just 24 hours.
Many people from Winters and nearby cities attended free events like the Summer Concert Series and other WFoL programs, but had no idea they were organized by WFoL volunteers, with no paid staff or office.
WFoL needed to show why contributing time, money, or other support were good for WFoL, good for our community, and good for the donors.
They needed a broader strategy and partners with a wider reach.
Building on our community’s biggest asset, generous and caring people who believe in working together, they met with leaders from Winters businesses and organizations to ask for help in promoting the Big Day campaign to their audience.
These meetings resulted in a group of promoters who agreed to help.
One meeting lasted a bit longer.
Corinne Martinez of Berryessa Gap Vineyards wanted to learn more about WFoL’s mission, programs, and impact. She’d seen the awesome Youth Day parade entries, but wasn’t quite sure what the ruckus was about.
Corinne didn’t know about WFoL’s community programs like Summer Concerts and Books for Babies, and the more than $20,000 WFoL contributes to the library most years.
Corinne wondered if the library was less important in the age of the internet. She didn’t realize that one of the well-used resources our library provides, and WFoL helps fund, is providing technology so anyone in the community has FREE access to computers and the internet – to apply for jobs, to apply to college, to continue to learn new skills.
Learning that the high school parking lot was often full after hours and at lunch-time, with people accessing the free wifi, with no need to buy something, she said, “Okay, we’re in. We’ll donate. We’ll promote. What more can we do?”
WFoL needed a venue to host an evening Big Day of Giving event. Corinne agreed immediately. “You’ve got it, talk to the tasting room manager to work out the details.”
WFoL volunteers organized snacks, volunteers, and donation stations. Berryessa Gap provided staff, a TV with wifi access to stream the leaderboard showing donation totals, and wifi for people to make donations.
2014 was incredibly exciting as WFoL hit their original $10,000 goal by noon, and decided to double the goal. The tasting room, filled with a mix of WFoL members, other Winters community members, and wine lovers from in and out of town, erupted with cheers when the $20,000 goal was reached by 8 pm. Cheers filled the tasting room again when WFoL surpassed Big Day of Giving goals in 2015, 2016, and 2017.
The partnership has expanded beyond Big Day of Giving.
Berryessa Gap is one of WFoL’s eleven community partners who offer a discount to members who show their current year WFoL membership card.
BG staff welcome members who stop in for a glass of wine or volunteers getting together for WFoL talk and tasks. They make it easy to host meetings or events. They share the values of having fun while you get things done and collaborating to create new opportunities for our community.
Please donate to Winters Friends of the Library at bigdayofgiving/wfol and then join us at Berryessa Gap on May 3 to celebrate giving together.
For more information about Berryessa Gap, contact Lynda@berryessagap.com
