Classic Wines Auction

YWCA Clark County receives $430,000 for participation in Classic Wines Auction

Linda Hickey, Karen Hinsdale and Rita Duyn, members of the board of the Classic Wines Auction, and Heather Martin, Classic Wines Auction Executive Director, recently paid a visit to YWCA Clark County. They brought with them a very large check, which they presented to Debbie Abraham, YWCA Board President, and Kathy Kniep, YWCA Executive Director. The $430,000 check was YWCA Clark County’s portion of the Classic Wines Auction proceeds. The gross proceeds of the auction—over $3 million—were awarded to five participating charities based on a variety of factors.

When they presented the check, the Classic Wines Auction board also extended an official invitation to YWCA Clark County to participate in the 2009 event, which will be the 25th anniversary for the Classic Wines Auction. In June 2007, the Classic Wines Auction board selected YWCA Clark County to be the auction’s fifth participating charity—and the first charity from Southwest Washington.

Kathy Kniep, YWCA Clark County Executive Director, commented, “The Classic Wines Auction is a unique and very effective fund raiser for local charities, and we feel quite honored to participate.  These funds help to sustain and grow our services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, and homelessness.  And, thanks to the tremendous success of this year’s Classic Wines Auction, we will be able to add capacity to both our Sexual Assault and CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) Programs to keep up with the rising demand for these services.”

In addition, the proceeds from the YWCA’s May event, “Party like Rockstars,” is enabling the organization to expand its violence prevention work, with the hope that fewer people will need the YWCA’s crisis intervention services. Overall, these two successful events will allow the YWCA to serve more people and to make progress toward achieving some of its ambitious strategic planning goals. Board and staff members are thrilled to be invited back again for next year’s auction.

Kathy Deschner, Director of Development, remarked, “We are very grateful to all of our sponsors, donors, and attendees for their extraordinary support of our involvement in the Classic Wines Auction this first year.  We were successful because they believed in the YWCA and supported our decision to participate in the Classic Wines Auction.”

The 2008 Classic Wines Auction took place on March 1 at the Oregon Convention Center and benefited four charities in addition to the YWCA: Metropolitan Family Service, New Avenues for Youth, Friends of the Children and Trillium Family Services. To learn more about the Classic Wines Auction, click here.

To read the article about the YWCA's Classic Wines Auction results in the May 30, 2008 Columbian, click here.