Each October, a percentage of Purple Cowboy sales are donated to Tough Enough to Wear Pink, which seeks to raise money and awareness in the fight against breast cancer. With the help of rodeos around the country, Purple Cowboy wines and other committed sponsors, Tough Enough To Wear Pink, now in its 13th year, has raised $27 million.
“October at Vintage Wine Estates was all about giving to fight breast cancer. Until this October brought another crisis—the devastating Northern California wildfires,” explained Terry Wheatley, Vintage’s evp-sales and marketing.
Along with Jessica Kogan, co-founder of Cameron Hughes wines and Chief Digital Officer of Vintage Wine Estates, Wheatley quickly established a GoFundMe campaign, called Heart of the Vine, to put gift cards for basic necessities right into the hands of those in Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino who have lost their homes or experienced long-term displacement.
The GoFundMe campaign, which was publicized on the wineries’ social media channels and mailing lists, has raised over $130,000 to date, and is being distributed on an ongoing basis, first to winery employees, then to other winery friends, neighbors and first responders who have experienced fire loss.
Thanks to the generous support of partners such as the HEB supermarket chain in Texas, the GoFundMe campaign will move to a 501(3)c status shortly to fund continuing needs during the long recovery. The combined funds raised for the Heart of the Vine 501(3)c is over $285,000.