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Wine Down with the United Way on Saturday, Oct. 12 for a day of wine tastings at Chestnut Trail, Lazy Elm, and RayLen vineyards while supporting the local community.

Hosted by the United Way of Davie County and Davie County Chamber of Commerce, this event will raise funds for the 2019 Annual Giving Campaign which supports the initiatives, programs, and services United Way provides to Davie residents.

Melinda Beauchamp, CEO of the United Way of Davie County, hopes to sell all 108 tickets and to fill two buses with attendees. “That would add close to $4,800 to our campaign, which for this small United Way, is a tremendous amount of money that we can do a lot with,” she said.

“For example, our United Way is committed to supporting Ignite Davie College Promise with $25,000 over the next five years and we’re committed to providing Edge Factor in our high schools for two years which is close to $13,000. Now we have to raise the money. A $7,000 event, especially if we can make it our annual signature event and grow it, could be significant in helping us with those commitments to our community.”

She would like to see other programs like the CARes Project, which provides low-interest car loans to credit-challenged working adults, be able to grow. “This is such an important program. We’d like to be able to fund at least two or three of these car loans for Davie residents in need of reliable transportation each year.”

Beauchamp would like to begin programs focusing on helping children become healthier adults. “Children must have a strong foundation. It takes more than reading, writing, and arithmetic to create a healthy adult. Schools can’t do it all. The rest of us must take some responsibility, as well.”

“The bottom line is being able to raise the amount of money we need to support the services that our county needs and that hasn’t been easy the last several years. It’s been a real struggle. We hope that this event will fill in a gap for us.”

She said that during her eight-year tenure as CEO, the United Way of Davie has not held a major event because it was too labor-intensive in addition to the annual campaign for her staff of three. But thanks to the agency’s relationship with the Davie County Chamber of Commerce, it was time to give it a try. The next step was deciding upon an event that other organizations weren’t doing.

“We at United Way don’t like to duplicate things, services or events,” Beauchamp said. “We thought that a wine tour would be unique and would be a nice way to showcase Davie County and our local vineyards.”

Caroline Moser, president of the chamber, agreed. “When Melinda approached me about doing a wine tour, I was all in. I love being able to shine a light on our beautiful vineyards. This event is a great way to build memories with family and friends while supporting our local businesses and in turn, raising money for United Way’s Annual Giving Campaign.”

Beauchamp expressed her gratitude for the people and organizations helping to make Wine Down with United Way possible.

“We are thankful for the chamber and Caroline for being willing to partner with us for this event. We are also grateful for the $1,000 grant from Davie County Tourism which will provide lunch and allow us to increase our profits by decreasing our expenses. I also appreciate Chamber Ambassadors Diane Albon and Janice Schmitz for creating cute little souvenir wine charms for each attendee.”

“I really hope people will support this event and help it to grow. We use our donations wisely and promise our donors that we will be good stewards of their dollars.”

Wine Down With United Way will run from 9:30 a.m. -5:30 p.m. and costs $125 per guest, which includes transportation by Yadkin Valley Wine Tours, a private tour guide, wine tastings at all vineyards and lunch.

Pickup and dropoff will be at the Comfort Inn in Mocksville, 629 Madison Road. The Comfort Inn is offering a 10 percent discount to anyone going on the tour. Call 336-751-5966.

The first 25 people to order tickets will receive a set of four wine glass charms. Order by Oct. 1 to be entered into a drawing for 50 percent off the ticket price. The deadline to purchase tickets is Oct. 7.

To purchase tickets visit: https://yadkinvalleywinetours.com/custom/united-way-davie-county.