Put on a Holiday Celebration that Will Make a Difference

– A lot of us will be hosting celebrations that bring friends and family together this holiday season. There will be a lot of laughing, telling stories and just enjoying each other’s company. But what can you do to set your party apart from the rest? How about dedicating the event to a cause -- like the effort to find a cure for breast cancer.
This time of year, pretty much every gathering they have at the Sutter Home Family Vineyards in St. Helena, Calif., is dedicated to the cause. They have several breast cancer survivors working there. Among them, the winery’s corporate secretary, a woman who works in the guard shack, one in production, another in administration, Vera Trinchero Torres, who is one of the owners, and Senior Vice President Terry Wheatley, who says, “I’m sure the reason we’re all alive today is because we had the smarts to schedule our regular mammograms.”

Since Wheatley has a family history of breast cancer, she had been getting annual mammograms since she was a teenager. Her grandmother died of the disease at the age of 58 and her mother had a double mastectomy at 38. Wheatley learned she too had the disease in May of 2000 at the age of 48. Doctors found cancerous lumps in both of her breasts and performed a double mastectomy. Around the same time, Torres underwent a single mastectomy.

Both women returned to work after their operations and while talking with co-workers realized they had the power to make a difference in hundreds if not thousands of lives. “Since more than 60 percent of the people who buy Sutter Home’s White Zinfandel table wine are women, we decided to use the bottle as the mechanism to reach them,” says Wheatley. The message they wanted to get out: that nearly all breast cancers can be treated successfully if detected early (according to the American Cancer Society).

They immediately went to work formulating an awareness campaign. In 2001, Sutter Home put out a bottle necker letting consumers know a portion of the money earned through sales of White Zinfandel would benefit City of Hope, a comprehensive cancer center near Los Angeles; the next year, a pink cork and bottle necker explaining how consumers can get involved in the fight against breast cancer appeared on the bottles; in 2003, they put pink ribbons on the label to promote awareness; and this year are offering customers an avenue to make a difference themselves through the Capsules for a Cure campaign. For each bottle capsule sent in between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31, 2004, $1 will be donated to the fight against cancer.

In addition to devoting space on its bottles to breast cancer awareness, Sutter Home also sponsors City of Hope walks around the country, and sells special, limited edition pink-themed items on its Web site, made by friends and family of Sutter Home. Among the items for sale, a pink hand-crocheted scarf, a black umbrella covered with pink roses, a pink tote made by Sutter Home’s graphic designer, and a pink ribbon bracelet made of rose quartz, pink speckled round glass and sterling silver beads. It was designed by Sutter Home Brand Director Wendy Nyberg.

“I’ve been making jewelry for several years now as kind of a creative outlet, and I’m glad to know that something I get so much enjoyment out of is going to benefit others as well,” says Nyberg. One hundred percent of the proceeds go to cancer research causes.

“Since the program began in 2001, we have received 80,000 personal letters from consumers expressing their appreciation and loyalty to our wines. It’s hard to think of another winery promotion that has touched people so deeply,” says Wheatley.

You can help Sutter Home reach its goal of raising another $250,000 for breast cancer research this year by returning the capsule from each bottle of White Zinfandel you buy to: Sutter Home for Hope, Department 7375, P.O. Box 42903, Mesa, Arizona, 85274-2903. Be sure to include your receipt as proof of purchase.