9th Annual V Foundation Wine Celebration Raises $3.4 Million for Cancer Research

NAPA, CALIF. - The Ninth Annual V Foundation Wine Celebration took place August 3 & 4 in the Napa Valley, raising more than $3.4 million for critical cancer research. The event, a signature fundraiser for The V Foundation, is the brainchild of Bay Area venture capitalists Julie and Andrew Constantin and has raised more than $25 million since its inception.

Amid the vines of Nickel & Nickel in a contemporary black and white tented setting created by designer Michael Holmes, guests from across the country kicked off an evening of extraordinary generosity. The mood was celebratory but the message was serious as The Foundation Chairman Bob Lloyd asked guests to stand if their lives had been touched by cancer, and with every seat in the house momentarily empty he urged everyone to look around and dig deep. In the minutes that followed, 24 individuals raised their paddles, pledging $50,000 each in support of the work of the V Foundation as President's Club members, and two donors signed on as Founders at the $500,000 level.

Elated, Lloyd turned the podium over to Dick Vitale, who remembered his friend Jim Valvano and others, moving into the crowd in an emotional and rousing speech. With the crowd warmed up, auctioneer extraordinaire David Reynolds took the stage and began working the room, auctioning off 44 lots ranging from a VIP Superbowl package hosted by the NFL Network to an arts and culinary experience in Paris, and cult Cabernet offerings from Araujo and Grace. Napa Valley's finest wines flowed, Reynolds engaged the crowd, and the bidding was fast and furious. When the last paddle went up on the final lot the live auction had generated a total of $828,500.

In one of the more emotional moments of the evening, the annual Fund-A-Need effort was introduced by a poignant video created by local vintners on behalf of St. Helena Hospital. Following the startling declaration that Napa County ranks tenth in the nation for per capita cancer incidence, familiar local faces appeared on the massive LED screen behind the stage, sharing their own cancer experiences. Lloyd urged bidders to help support the community that has been home to the event for almost a decade, and bidders pledged more than $500,000 in roughly five minutes to support the capital campaign to build St. Helena Hospital's Comprehensive Cancer Care Center. Three additional dedicated lots netted $13,000 (Lot 13: Napa, Bitterroot and Coach Seifert), $76,000 (Lot 21: Take a Turn with Jerry) and $24,000 (Lot 32: Coach, Put Me In), bringing the total local donation to $618,000.

"What a night! Since we reached our endowment goal last year, these donations are even more significant to our grant program," says Bob Lloyd, chairman of The V Foundation. "One hundred percent of every dollar pledged will fund critical research, and the good people who wrote checks here this weekend know that that research is the only way we will ever keep our promise to Jim (Valvano) and beat this disease."

This past weekend in the Napa Valley, The 2007 V Foundation Wine Celebration raised more than $4 million for critical cancer research.

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For more information, or photos of the event, please contact Tori Wilder at 707.227.8310 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  

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