Fulfilling dreams
Wine event helps MakeA-Wish New Mexico boost children’s spirits FIFTH ANNUAL WINE & WISHES
Fill up your wine cellar and help fulfill aspirations of New Mexico children with life-threatening diseases at Wine & Wishes. Make-A-Wish New Mexico, which puts on the event, is hoping to raise $100,000 to grant 20 wishes for New Mexico children who have been referred to its organization. These children are ages 2½ to 18 and have life-threatening medical conditions. Children are referred by a parent or guardian or any medical professional who might be associated with the child’s case or the child, according to Sydney Graczyk, operations manager for Make-A-Wish New Mexico.
The organization has granted many wishes with the help of proceeds from past Wine & Wishes events. WHEN: 6-9:30 p.m. April 21
WHERE: Albuquerque Museum, 2000 Mountain NW
HOW MUCH: $50 per person. Tickets and information, visit newmexico.wish.org
“We have had a wish for a camping experience, a wish for a treehouse, a wish for a wheelchair-accessible playground, a wish to go to Hawaii to kiss a dolphin, a wish to meet (World Wrestling Entertainment wrestler) John Cena, and we had wishes to go to a NASCAR race,” Graczyk said.
Wine & Wishes, in its fifth year, will offer heavy hors d’oeuvres, a wine tasting, a silent and a live auction. Auction items include everything from jewelry to home packages, girls’ night out packages, date night packages, family fun packages, and lots of wine, including wines from wineries in Oregon and the Napa Valley. There are also round-trip tickets for Alaska Airlines and Southwest Airlines and Denver Broncos tickets.
The event features “Restaurant Row,” which will have close to 200 local restaurant gift cards being sold at 80 percent of their value.
“And then we have a wine pull, and that’s where we have, I think this year we will have 400 bottles of wine, and they are wrapped up in one of the newsletters and you can pull a bottle of wine for $25,” Graczyk said. “Each bottle of wine is valued between $25 and $250. The wine tasting is donated by Casa Rondeña. The wine pull is donated by Southern Wine and Spirits.”
Guests also will have the opportunity to interact with Make-A-Wish families during the event.
“The Wish families that we are inviting, most of them have already have had their wishes (granted) so they will be able to share that experience with the guests,” Graczyk said.