Cheers to Raising Money for Research

Most Americans associate Idaho with potatoes. That may be true, and potatoes are delicious, but we’re known for so much more than just the spud. Idaho, particularly Boise, is also known for having amazing local wineries and craft breweries. Our family is fortunate to be friends with several local winery and brewery owners who are caring and generous business owners.

Over the past few months, Hearts for Hadley has held three separate fundraising events at local wineries and a brewery for cystinosis research.

The first event was a glassybaby pop-up shop held at Potter Wines on November 2nd. Potter Wines is owned by the parents of one of Hadley’s best friends. Hearts for Hadley received a portion of sales from both glassybaby and Potter Wine’s during the three-hour event. Everyone had a great time enjoying a glass of wine or a wine tasting while shopping for beautiful glassybaby hand-blown candle holders. We’re grateful to the Potters for hosting the event.

Our next event, Kegs 4 Kause at Payette Brewing Co. owned by our friends, Mike & Paige Francis, took place on November 25th. Every Monday throughout the year, Payette Brewing Co. supports a different local non-profit through their Kegs 4 Kause program by donating 50% of beer sales between 6 pm-10 pm.  This year we raised $680 for cystinosis research. Payette Brewing Co. has supported Hearts for Hadley for years and we’re incredibly thankful for their ongoing support through Kegs 4 Kause and beer donation for our annual Hearts for Hadley gala.

Our latest fundraising event took place on January 15th at Split Rail Winery, owned by our friends, Jed & Laura Glavin. Every month Split Rail selects a local non-profit for their Wine Not Give program where 30% of wine sales are donated. In addition, they open their awesome tasting room for the event and let the non-profit decide how they want to raise money and awareness. We hired a food truck for our event and hired a couple of bands to entertain our guests. The opening band, Cheaper Sneakers, was a highlight. The band is comprised of Hadley’s older sister Stella, my nephew, Porter and our good friends, Henry and Nika. They all attend Boise Rock School and were excited to play at a real gig! They did a great job and were paid in grilled cheese sandwiches from the delicious food truck, Melt.

The main act was a band call Tower 9. My brother-in-law plays guitar for Tower 9 and the band is truly great! The entire tasting room was packed, and the local news even showed up to film a piece about Hadley and cystinosis. We raised $735 at our Wine Not Give event which was a record for Split Rail Winery!