Relief for Japan

I couldn’t believe my eyes this morning when, on the way home from a meeting, I saw on Twitter (source of all news, no?) that another earthquake, a 7.4, had occurred off the coast of Japan. It made me nauseous and my heart hurt. I can’t even imagine. I just can’t.

Last night I joined Red White Boston at the always-chic Noir at the Charles Hotel. Red White Boston’s tasting crew meets monthly, and this meeting was special; it was a wine-up auction to raise money for Red Cross Disaster Relief in Japan.

Here’s where some really good people came in. The folks at Noir and the Charles Hotel donated the space for the event. Noir is a crowded bar in bustling Harvard Square that is full pretty much every night, and rightly so, as their food and drinks rock. I found it incredibly generous that they were willing to rope off a portion of the restaurant for our fundraising event.

But that’s not all they did. They also gave us free food: dips and chips and their signature pizzas kept on coming throughout the night.

I didn’t get photos of all of the food like the to-die-for mushroom pizza because I was having too much fun chatting with Meesh and friends, Brian, Amanda, Ray and Rachel, Christopher, Melanie, Emily, and others to take many photos. Red White Boston events are FUN! And I’m not just saying that because I do some social media work for them; they always fill up with really fun people. Meet me at the next one!

The food was a very nice touch, the event space was everything we could ask for, but the Charles Hotel didn’t stop there. No, they donated brunch for two at Henrietta’s Table for the auction.

The main event of the evening was a silent auction of some great bottles of wine with all proceeds going to Red Cross Disaster Relief. Through the magic of Twitter, Red White Boston’s founder, Cathy, got in touch with a magical organization called Cellar Angels:

Cellar Angels was created by a compassionate group of wine loving friends intent on changing the world. Our mission is simple: connect small and family run wineries to a larger audience, expose wine lovers to incredible purchase opportunities offered exclusively to Cellar Angels members from partnering vineyards, and provide assistance to a select group of charities. We love wine. We love introducing others to great wine and we love helping others. Cellar Angels provides an opportunity to accomplish all three.

They donated a case of wine, just like that, for the event. Because of Massachusetts laws, we couldn’t open the wine at the event, so it was auctioned off. At the end of the evening, winners went online, on site, and made a donation for their bid to the Red Cross, then walked away with their winning bottle of wine.

As I sit here, I really can’t imagine what it must be like to be in Japan or Haiti or any other disaster-ravaged country. It sounds trite, but events like this really do make you stop and think about how lucky we are. And even luckier to know businesses like Red White Boston, Charles Hotel, and Cellar Angels. I love it when businesses I already like do good things. It guarantees I will be back again and again.

Do you have a favorite business that is active in some form of charity, volunteer work, or the community?