Foodies Giving Back

( Our first Relay For Life team, June 2004. )

In February 2003 I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Through swift action on my part (calling the doctor) and a great team of doctors and nurses I underwent surgery, radiation therapy and got well in about 5 months. This event started two things that continue to do this day that I am immensely proud of. The first was a renewed commitment to fundraising and volunteer work, and the second was making my own beer and wine.

If you have poked around my blog for a bit you've gotten a sense of my adventures with home brewing and home winemaking. Margot asked me if picking up a hobby would be better than working all the time now that I was well and desirous of appreciating my second chance at life. I agreed, and the rest is history.

I have roots in community service, volunteering and fundraising. I am an Eagle Scout and was an active volunteer and fundraiser with the Boy Scouts, my hometown church and local organizations for many years before I went to college. In college I joined a fraternity that had a commitment to community service, something that resonated with me based on my background. After college my volunteering waned in favor of my career, but I donated to charities as much as I could during that time. After having cancer I found that my roots in giving back were re-invigorated. I wanted, no, I needed to give back. I needed to be an example for others of the hope we all must have to fight cancer.

In June of 2003, only two months out of treatment, my wife and I participated in a walk for prostate cancer on Father’s Day. Later that year we linked up with the Lance Armstrong Peleton Project and made 100 apple pies by hand (see me hard at work to the left) to raise money to fight cancer. Margot and I also attended our first Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk, and event sponsored by the American Cancer Society. That event was in Boston and five minutes after I got home from it I went looking for a similar event in New Hampshire. I found the local Strides event in Manchester,NH would be held the very next weekend and promptly volunteered to help setup and cleanup. At that event I was introduced to the event chairperson for the Manchester Relay For Life, an event I had heard of through my mother’s research during my treatment. Without thinking about it, and getting in trouble for it when I got home, I volunteered to be the survivorship committee chairperson for the Relay that would be held in June of 2004. For that event my wife and I also formed a team of fundraisers and walkers, Survivors Rule! The team is composed of family and friends who all look forward to our annual events.

Food related events have been key to our fundraising. We have hosted a chocolate party, made chocolate baskets, held wine tastings and made pies several additional times, all to fight cancer. Wine tastings have become a flagship event for us, something that as a winemaker I can wholly embrace.

While our involvement with the Lance Armstrong Foundation didn’t continue as their events program has evolved, we have developed a strong relationship with the local American Cancer Society office participating in both Relay and Strides in every year since 2004. I have had the honor of being a speaker at many events, have participated in advocacy work with local politicians and made so many friends through involvement in these activites. I often look back and wonder how in the world this all happened.

( My brother, on the right, and his friend Geoff at one of our wine tastings. )

( Strides - we walk rain, snow or shine! )

( Tired & sore having completed another Relay For Life! )

( Me and Margot's uncle Gerry, also a cancer survivor. )

One of the most astonishing things that has come from all of this is how much money we have raised. Since 2003 the Survivors Rule! team has raised over $72,000!!! I always tell people who ask about this that if you had told me 8 years ago that I would be saying that now I would have likely fallen out of a chair laughing at your insane blabber. Our team has been the top fundraising team at our local Relay in 4 of the last 5 years and is the most successful (in $$ raised) in the event’s history. I get choked up just thinking about how much our support has helped and how many people we have reduce suffering for.

In late 2010 Sarah from the OC 2 Seattle blog put out a call for food bloggers who use their blog to support local charities. I responded with made the caveat that I hadn’t really used my blog to promote my events, but had used my culinary and winemaking skills to raise money and give back. It did occur to me that since changing my blog format in April of 2010 that I may have missed an opportunity. You can see what Sarah ultimately wrote about my team’s exploits in her blog.
Sarah shared her surprise as to how a relatively small group of people had accomplished so much and in such a short time. She could tell I was quite proud of the accomplishments and had an eye to a new year for fundraising and giving back in 2011. She suggested that I consider harnessing Social Media (Twitter in particular) to add virtual attendance to wine tasting events and broaden my call for support. I have to thank her for pointing this out to me, for some reason I hadn’t yet made the link.

In March and April, the dates are not yet set, we will be doing just that, hosting wine tastings and connecting with folks around the world to help us in our fight. As we get closer I will be sharing lots of additional information about the American Cancer Society, it’s events, mission and how you can get involved.

( Last year's Relay team right before closing. Proud aren't we!! )

Our team is back for Relay again this year and our online fundraising site is up and running. If you would like to donate to get us going for another fantastic year you can use the link below. The donations go directly to the American Cancer Society as we raise funds in advance of our event in June. Thank you so much for you support.

DONATION LINK - http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY11NE?px=1344507&pg=personal&fr_id=31248

A few years into our activities I coined a battle cry for my team. I use it all the time to remind people just what it is that we are doing. I’ll close with that today.

“We are here, we are fighting, and we will win! WE MUST HAVE HOPE.”

Jason

Spring Is On The Way

Several themes are evolving for Ancient Fire’s activities this spring. While not everything we are hoping for is likely to come to pass, more on that to follow, we are nonetheless excited.

This past weekend a lineup of twelve Ancient Fire wines were used in a tasting to raise money for the Relay For Life. Some of the selections hadn’t been tasted in a few months which ended up being particularly exciting for some of our 2008 reds that are now drinking very well. The Cab Blend and Ruby Cabernet are both showing their individual character and Amarone #2 is developing and should continue to do so for another year or more. Margot’s Symphony was the star of the day and as our youngest wine it is sure making a statement. With nice floral notes on the nose, obvious fruit flavors from the first sip, and a balance seldom found in our wines we think we have a competition success in this wine. Everyone who tried it had something, and very positive somethings, to say about this wine where other very good wines didn’t attract nearly as much attention. We raised around $350 with this event which is a nice bump for our annual Relay For Life event.

The Sake experiment was a bust, I grew other fungi than I wanted so I threw it out and will focus my efforts where I am already successful, fruit and grape wines!

Our spring winemaking plan is partially tied to receiving a shipment of Chilean grapes, which after the earthquake is no sure thing. While our supplier is proceeding with optimism they have not yet confirmed what will be available and have extended the pre-order deadline so we must wait patiently and see. If the grapes do not work out we will acquire some frozen must (pressed grapes from last year’s fall harvest) and make some of the wines in our plan, but will reserve budget for the 2010 west coast harvest later in the year.

We have also begun receiving our WinExpert Special Edition kits including the Australian Petite Verdot and the hugely popular Pacific Quartet white blend. When these get started will depend on the outcome with the Chilean grapes. Obviously we will give an update when they get going.

Otherwise we are almost done with the ciders which have also been bringing smiles for all who have tried some. Summer here we come!

Cheers!

--Jason

Fighting Breast Cancer with Wine

No this isn't a science journal, and no I don't have some crackpot cure for cancer using homemade wine!

What I can tell you is that with great thanks going out to my parents, Tom & Marilyn Baziak and all of their friends we raised $867 for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer last Saturday.

We have had a annual wine tasting to raise money for the American Cancer Society since 2007 and we always have a great time. Cabot Cheese graciously sponsored us with 3 kinds of cheese, a new wine & cheese pairing guide and some give-aways. We had some drawings, Margot won the pig Snuggy, and a lot of talk about what we were up to with our wines.

We served the following tasty selections:

2008 Chilean Chardonnay
2008 White Blend #1 & #2
2009 Strawberry #2
2008 Cabernet Blend
2009 VT Dandelion
2009 Black Currant
2008 Cabernet Franc Ice Wine

The Dandelion wine was the unique wine of the day. Most people hadn't had it before so were surprised at the pleasant taste that does remind you of flowers after some consideration. It has a lot of lemon as well, which isn't bad either. The Strawberry and the Cab Blend were the big hits and we went home with only one bottle of the eight we brought between them. The Chardonnay has matured well and ended up being a nice addition as our hosts have traveled the world tasting many varieties along the way.

So in the end we are fighting cancer with wine and we can clearly say it is making a real difference!

Cheers

--Jason