May Day Fundraiser

JFW May Day Fest: Fundraising for Our Community

The Human Race is a nationwide community fundraising event that collaborates with individuals, teams, local businesses to raise money for nonprofit organizations. On May 10th, 2014, you can see members of the Kendall-Jackson team as representatives of Jackson Family Wines in special costumes and t-shirts racing or walking either a 3k or 10K route in support of local charities participating in Sonoma County’s Human Race, their largest fundraising event.

Kendall-Jackson and our parent company Jackson Family Wines has been a strong supporter of the Human Race for seven years running, raising over $68,500 for various nonprofit organizations throughout the county. This year, we have set a goal to raise $10,000. How are we doing?

This year, we decided to do things differently to generate more participation and increase our fundraising efforts. Four teams were developed to spur some friendly competition and to organize the interests of JFW employees who support over 40 organizations annually. These teams are: Animals, Children & Youth, Health & Environment, Social & Veterans.

Last Thursday, JFW’s Human Race Committee, a fearless crew of JFW employees from various parts of the company, kicked off a huge fundraiser event called the May Day Festival. Appropriately on the 1st of May, the festival included music, games, prizes, raffles and food trucks during an extended office lunch hour. Each team organized a fun game and provided some tasty treats in a little friendly competition to spur some serious fundraising.

We were also joined by some amazing, mobile culinary wizards including: Formaggio, Marks the Spot, and refreshing drinks from Libations Unlimited. On top of providing delicious food and beverages, each of these amazing vendors donated an extra 10% of their sales to our fundraiser. We, and our bellies, could not thank them enough for their support and services.

The event was an incredible success–measured by the fun and feasting. Employees in and around our administrative offices came out and generously donated their support for such a great cause. With that being said, can we get a drumroll please? With all of the great contributions from our employees and guest food trucks, we were able to raise a grand total of $2008.00 (yes, TWO THOUSAND and Eight dollars) in a little under than 2 hours.

As of today, Jackson Family Wines has now surpassed our $10,000 fundraising goal, and we aren’t done yet. We have a few more days to continue to fundraise in support of the amazing community around us. Just as we care for the land that sustains us, we care deeply for the community that is home to us.
To see how we’re doing, check out our efforts here.

 

Meet the Team Leaders & their Cause Teams: What was your favorite part of the May Day Fest?

Shannon Gonzales (Children & Youth): I loved that everyone seemed to be having a really great time.  Either playing games, or enjoying the food and the party atmosphere.  And the generosity of everyone involved, from the folks helping with set up and break down and manning the tables, to folks just tossing in a couple extra bucks here and there ‘for the cause’.

Heather Cranney (Animals): I loved that even with the heat we had a great showing from team members and employees coming out to support their co-workers.   So many people pitched in to make the day successful it was great to witness.  It was nice that the Green Dog Rescue Project was kind enough to come out with some doggies (thanks to Ann Wallace).   Most of all I love that the JFW Human Race participation in general seems to have been reinvigorated this year.

Larry Smith (Social/Veterans): Seeing everyone enjoying the good spirit, fun and the food was pretty darn good too.
P.S. Heather’s animals showing up was pretty cool too.  Grr…

Carolin Fuller (Social/Veterans): Being able to engage JFW employees and our co-workers in a way that got people excited about our causes and giving back to the community. It was a challenge since this was the first year planning something like this, but the enthusiastic response and funds we raised made all the effort more than worth it.

Stephanie Duckhorn (Health & Environment): How everyone was so relaxed & ready to have a good time:  the food, the weather, the games were all A-MAY-ZING and a perfect recipe for our “FUN”DRAISER!

Sabrina Sihakom (Health & Environment): Having everyone spend their lunch hour outside together for a great cause! Everyone was able to enjoy themselves while we fundraised for our community!