Sonoma, California | February 5, 2015: The Napa | Sonoma chapter of Women for WineSense (WWS) will host a free Volunteer Orientation Meeting at Gloria Ferrer Caves & Vineyards on Thursday, February 19th, from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m., for those wishing to volunteer for the non-profit organization that provides scholarships annually at U.C. Davis, Sonoma State University, Santa Rosa Junior College and Napa Valley College to students in wine studies degree programs.
Those in attendance who plan to volunteer for Napa | Sonoma Women for WineSense will enjoy Gloria Ferrer‘s sparkling wines and appetizers while mingling with fellow wine and WWS enthusiasts. The orientation meeting will follow casual networking and segue way into breakout groups for volunteers to learn the details of their specific assignments.
Chapter President, Christine L. Mueller, stated, “Interest from volunteers who’ve stepped forward so far has been tremendous. We’re very pleased so many in the wine community have offered their time and expertise.” She clarified further, “We are still short of attracting the full roster of upwards of 50 volunteers to launch this new Volunteer Corps. Having a corps of volunteers will provide us with needed vertical structure in the organization. Then we’ll begin executing the corresponding strategy plan to launch new benefits and programs for our members.”
Ellen Reich Luchtel, Membership Director, mapped out the overall strategy: “Our objective is to make membership in the chapter much more valuable to our members by offering greater participation opportunities. These activities will strengthen relationships and contribute to achieving the chapter’s goals of providing career development tools and wine education. By giving these volunteer members more opportunities to develop and participate in running our events, they’ll come away with a sense of empowerment. Just come to our volunteer orientation meeting to learn how it all will work.”
Ms. Mueller summed up the differences between running her 325+ member organization and other wine country associations thusly: “There are many fine organizations in Napa and Sonoma working to promote growers, wineries, and tourism. Virtually all of them have paid staff. We are unique in having no paid directors or administrators. So everyone is truly dedicated─beyond their day jobs─to make this a success. And with Women for WineSense celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, we thought it was time to take it to the next level.”
ABOUT THE WWS VOLUNTEER CORPS
The newly formed Corps offers volunteer positions that range from Volunteer and Events Coordinators to Digital Content Managers. Volunteers can become a Fundraising Coordinators or Membership Ambassadors. Of key importance are the volunteers who will help develop and run the Volunteer Corps program for the chapter.
Volunteers may be asked to serve monthly in some positions. Others may not have their assignments to serve until later in the year. And some will be tasked with setting up new programs in the works. So their participation will be heavier the first few months of 2015, but will become a much lighter workload once programs are launched.
The more than two dozen positions can be found at: http://wwsnapasonoma.com/volunteer/ where downloadable PDF job descriptions are listed along with a short online application. Interested parties are invited to attend the chapter’s Volunteer Orientation meeting, which will start with a wine and hors d’oeuvres reception before presenting the Volunteer Corps program. More information can be found on the chapter’s blog at: http://wwsnapasonoma.com/launching-wws-volunteer-corps/.
ABOUT THE CHAPTER
The chapter’s full 2015 calendar of events can be found at: http://wwsnapasonoma.com/events. The chapter will hold the first of its 2015 Tasting Series (formerly Wednesday Wine Club): “Wines of the Loire Valley” at Back Room Wines in Napa on February 12th. (https://wws-tasting-series-loire-wines.eventbrite.com) The chapter’s winter events conclude with “Women in Wine” to be held on March 5th at Napa Valley College’s Performing Arts Center in Napa (https://WWS-WomeninWine2015.eventbrite.com).
Women for WineSense is a not-for-profit organization 501(c)6 formed in 1990 as a way to help its members advance their careers in the wine industry, providing educational events as well as aid wine enthusiasts in developing their wine knowledge. The Napa|Sonoma WWS chapter currently has more than 325 members of which 75% are professionals in the wine industry. For information about becoming a member, please email our Membership Director, Ellen Reich Luchtel at Membership@WWSNapaSonoma.com, or visit: http://wwsnapasonoma.com/join-our-membership/.
