Saving Elephants – One Dinner at a Time
Each year we allocate a sizeable share of our resources to charity. As a family owned winery, we believe it is important to give back to the community we live in, with approximately 80% of our contributions remaining in the Livermore Valley. These contributions provide support to both large and small community efforts such as those designed to preserve open spaces, provide housing for the disabled, and local health, education, and art initiatives. The remainder is allocated to the greater Bay Area.
This year, we expanded our footprint slightly to support a cause of global importance – efforts to eliminate the trade in illegal ivory that is threatening the survival of the African Elephant. Among the many requests for donations that cross my desk each year was one for Action for Wildlife, a grass roots effort by the Oakland Zoo to raise money for the Amboseli Elephant Research Project in Kenya. Many years ago, I had the pleasure of working with Colleen Kinzley, general curator at the Oakland Zoo, in a study of elephant ivory, a study critical to understanding bone fracture in osteoporosis. Thus, I couldn’t help but get involved in this charity. With the support of Eduardo Posada (Posada Restaurant in Livermore), we crafted a Vegetarian Winemaker Dinner for six as an auction item for the Action for Wildlife Gala.
Last Tuesday night we held the dinner at Posada Restaurant. The high bidder had given his winning auction dinner to members of the Oakland Zoo staff that work every day with the Action for Wildlife Project, so the evening provided a chance for Eduardo and me to catch up on the latest news regarding protection of the African Elephant (much in the news lately with President Obama’s recent trip to Africa).
It was a spectacular meal – Chef Posada once again showing his creative spirit in pairing complex vegetarian dishes with our vegan wines. I thought you would enjoy seeing the menu from this dinner. In all, the auction raised almost 50,000 dollars in support of the Amboseli trust.
