CORNWALL, DEC 3 United Way Centraide Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry is thrilled to announce that its ninth annual Holiday Wine & Gourmet Tastings Gala, proudly supported by Marty Benson and hosted by Boom 101.9’s Dan Allaire and Bill Halman, raised $60,000 (net) for our communities.

The hybrid event, chaired by Karen and Ray Brunet, included an intimate in-person Gala at the Cornwall Golf & Country Club with just over 100 guests enjoying wine, gourmet food and live music from The Chesterfields. Although there were technical difficulties with the Facebook Live, portions of the night were shared on the United Way Centraide SDG Facebook Page as people from home enjoyed a local gourmet charcuterie box prepared by Gina Roach (Spinners Diner) with two bottles of Norman Hardie wine.

The event also kicked off its second annual online auction with over 90 items donated from local artisans and businesses, raising just over $10,000! The week leading up to the event also included a holiday raffle with a chance to win prizes such as wine for a year, beer for a year from FreshCo, $500 cash prizes and jewellery prizes from Pommier Jewellers. Winners were announced during the in-person event.

“We knew we couldn’t return to our large gala again this year, but we felt it was important to find a way bring back our signature event safely while also offering the at-home packages we introduced last year. We were blown away, yet again, by the generosity from this community as this hybrid model nearly doubled what we raised last year! This is such an astounding accomplishment during a time where we recognize that businesses and individuals continue to feel the economic strain from the pandemic along with the rising cost of living. It’s a testament to the heart of this community to continue supporting each other during challenging times. This event showed us what was possible with fundraising during such a difficult time,” – said Juliette Labossière, Executive Director of UWC SDG.

The United Way thanks the Cornwall Golf & Country Club for being a wonderful partner in executing an in-person event that followed public health guidelines and the Midnight Confetti team who transformed the room into holiday elegance with golds and greens. This event would not have been possible without the hard-work and dedication of volunteers and the generosity of local businesses.

Next year is the tenth year for the Holiday Gala, and the wine committee is already in the early planning stages of brainstorming ways to make it the biggest one yet.