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Among several fundraisers in the area, St. Charles resident Susan Lyons wanted her charitable event to stand out.
“Everybody has fundraisers,” she said. “I thought, ‘We got to come up with something different.’”
In 2005, Lyons helped found Geneva’s LivingWell Center, which provides cancer patients, their families and friends with free support and educational services.
Each year since then, Lyons — who’s now the cancer center’s developmental director — also has helped organize the Winter Wine Festival.
For the second consecutive year, the event will be held at the St. Charles mansion of Ed French, a LivingWell Cancer Center board member.
The invitation-only, $250 per guest affair is set Feb. 18. Lyons said invitees include Tri-Cities mayors and residents who know someone in the cancer center community. Even though the event is private, she said she’s gotten calls from as far away as Naperville from people interested in attending.
The event will feature donated hors d’oeuvres, wine bottles and either a harpist, jazz singers, a pianist or other musicians in each room.
The first year, the event brought in $57,000. But in 2010, the event brought in $150,000, and that number doubled last year to $300,000.
This year, event organizers hope to raise even more.
Although the gala is private, a raffle drawing and a live and silent auction conducted during the event will be open to the public. Bids can be made via absentee ballots online at lwwinterwinefestival.com. Winners will be announced night of the event.
This year’s auction items include a $15,000 wine and culinary excursion for eight in Tuscany — including accommodations at a 17th century farmhouse — and two tickets to the Ryder Cup at Medinah Country Club complete with access to the final round and passes to a VIP chalet.
There’s also skybox seats at a Chicago White Sox game and raffle tickets for a Rolex timepiece that are being sold for $100 each.
Lyons said many of the items came from connections within the cancer center community.
“Every year we have to have a new wow factor,” she said.
While most charities spend 40 percent to 50 percent of their revenue on expenses, Lyons said the cancer center only uses about 16 percent.
She said expenses are low thanks to a free venue for the wine festival, about 200 sponsors and a company that sells trips at discounted rates to nonprofits for auctions.
Funding from the wine festival helps make up 46 percent of the center’s budget, she added.
Among several fundraisers in the area, St. Charles resident Susan Lyons wanted her charitable event to stand out.
“Everybody has fundraisers,” she said. “I thought, ‘We got to come up with something different.’”
In 2005, Lyons helped found Geneva’s LivingWell Center, which provides cancer patients, their families and friends with free support and educational services.
Each year since then, Lyons — who’s now the cancer center’s developmental director — also has helped organize the Winter Wine Festival.
For the second consecutive year, the event will be held at the St. Charles mansion of Ed French, a LivingWell Cancer Center board member.
The invitation-only, $250 per guest affair is set Feb. 18. Lyons said invitees include Tri-Cities mayors and residents who know someone in the cancer center community. Even though the event is private, she said she’s gotten calls from as far away as Naperville from people interested in attending.
The event will feature donated hors d’oeuvres, wine bottles and either a harpist, jazz singers, a pianist or other musicians in each room.
The first year, the event brought in $57,000. But in 2010, the event brought in $150,000, and that number doubled last year to $300,000.
This year, event organizers hope to raise even more.
Although the gala is private, a raffle drawing and a live and silent auction conducted during the event will be open to the public. Bids can be made via absentee ballots online at lwwinterwinefestival.com. Winners will be announced night of the event.
This year’s auction items include a $15,000 wine and culinary excursion for eight in Tuscany — including accommodations at a 17th century farmhouse — and two tickets to the Ryder Cup at Medinah Country Club complete with access to the final round and passes to a VIP chalet.
There’s also skybox seats at a Chicago White Sox game and raffle tickets for a Rolex timepiece that are being sold for $100 each.
Lyons said many of the items came from connections within the cancer center community.
“Every year we have to have a new wow factor,” she said.
While most charities spend 40 percent to 50 percent of their revenue on expenses, Lyons said the cancer center only uses about 16 percent.
She said expenses are low thanks to a free venue for the wine festival, about 200 sponsors and a company that sells trips at discounted rates to nonprofits for auctions.
Funding from the wine festival helps make up 46 percent of the center’s budget, she added.
“(The festival) has been critical to our ability to provide... services,” she said.
Additional donations from the event have led to the construction a new building specifically designed for cancer center programs near Route 38 and Williamsburg Avenue in Geneva. The new building will replace the current building with three times more space at about 15,000 square feet. It includes three outdoor gardens, skylights and a waterfall near the entrance. The center plans to make the move in May.
Bob Hubbard, chairman of the center’s board of directors, has helped run the event since its start after losing both parents to cancer. He said while hospitals provide medical care, the center offers care to the mind, body and spirit.
“I haven’t met anyone who hasn’t known someone with cancer,” he said.
Meanwhile, organizers are already considering what next year’s wow factor will be. Lyons said in the coming years, committees are considering expanding the event to three, four or five homes.
“People have to walk away and say, ‘Oh my God, we’re coming back next year,’” she said.
