By AMY HOLTER ? MARCH 31, 2015

In February, Dominic Foppoli, co-owner of Christopher Creek Winery and John Viszlay, owner of Viszlay Vineyards, traveled to rural Kenya to see the results of the first 'Vineyards to Villages' clean water project. Vineyards to Villages (V2V) is an initiative started by Dave Stare, founder of Dry Creek Vineyard, that engages the Sonoma County wine industry in raising funds for water, sanitation, and hygiene education projects at very poor schools with little to no water infrastructure in the Kasipul Constituency of western Kenya. Through the program, boutique family-owned wineries are "Turning Sonoma County Wine into African Water" by donating 1/3 - 1/2 of the sales price of designated V2V wines in their tasting rooms toward clean water projects.

 At Apondo Primary School, the program funded the construction of a 465-foot borehole well, complete with an electric pumping system and two reserve water tanks. New bathrooms and hand washing stations were built for the school of 456 children. In addition, the children will receive hygiene education to teach them the importance of hand washing before eating and after using the latrines. Lastly, a kiosk with piped water from the well was constructed to make clean water accessible to the students' households in the surrounding village.

"Being able to meet the families and witness firsthand the impact that a project like this has on a region makes me and my family very happy to have played a small part in it," said Viszlay.

"John and I witnessed the fact that thousands of children in the Kasipul area still attend schools with no clean drinking water, and this should be unacceptable to us in today's world," said Foppoli. "My business partners and I contribute to many local programs for children through Santa Rosa Active 20-30, and I wanted to be just as involved in the important work we contribute to internationally. Since Global Partners is a small, locally run organization, it is possible to be an active donor even though the beneficiaries are half a world away." 

Tasters can visit any of the current participating wineries to try V2V wines: Christopher Creek Winery, Deux Amis Winery, Everett Ridge Winery, Fritz Underground Winery, Merriam Vineyards, Pedroncelli Winery, and Viszlay Vineyards.

Donations from the following wineries were used to fund the Apondo Primary School water project: Christopher Creek Winery, De La Montanya Winery, Deux Amis Winery, Dry Creek Vineyard, Fritz Underground Winery, Merriam Vineyards, Williamson Wines, Wilson Winery, and Viszlay Vineyards.

For more information on Vineyards to Villages, contact Amy Holter, Director of Programs and Evaluation, at (707) 588-0550 or [email protected].

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