The wine world can be quite self-absorbed and will at its worst seem to cater to the 1%. Luckily there is also room for trying to do something good (aside from supporting wine makers), and over the years there have been a great any initiatives taken for just causes. Charity dinners and auctions, Wine in Moderation’s continuous awareness raising for the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption, or the #winelover against cancer campaign are just of a couple of examples (incidentally, be sure to check out the latest one as October is breast cancer awareness month!).
The other day I was contacted by the Belgian chapter of “SOS Kinderdorpen” for a bloggers auction that they were organizing. SOS Children’s Villages, as the organization is called globally, is one of the strongest advocates for children’s rights and interests. They strive to ensure that all children have the happy childhood the lucky ones among us had, be it in third world countries, war-ravages citied or closer at home.
Today perhaps more than ever, what they do is important. The cynic in me would say the world is fucked and that you would be a fool to think about the future as it would only go downhill. This is the easy way; it absolves you of all responsibility and perpetuates the disillusion that the way the world goes is beyond your control. The simple truth however, is that this is just a load of crap. We all have a responsibility, and do we honestly want to turn it into guilt later on? We have to be able to look future generations in the eye and be able to stand by what we did. It can be big like Elon Musk’s plan to go to the Mars or Barack Obama’s pledge for nuclear disarmament but does this mean that there is nothing that we can do, however small a contribution it may be, to ensure that today’s children do not grow up in an unfair world.
The specific purpose of the bloggers auction is to support the Simbahuis, a small scale project in Belgium that gives children who come from difficult or vulnerable homes the chance to enjoy being a kid, to get a breather from the harsh reality they may have been dealt with. At the same time, parents get a chance to work past what sets them back and to learn how to be a family again.
Government support only gets them so far, however, and the money raised by the auction will be a great help. I honestly don’t care about the publicity and I genuinely believe that this is a cause that everyone can and should make a contribution to. You can click on the link above and never look back to The Wine Analyst for all I care. As long as I have held your attention just for this article, I am sure that you will keep it in the back of your mind and that something good will come out of it sooner or later.
Access The Wine Analyst’s auction HERE or via the picture.
What I have written before about the winemakers:
Oei, oei, twas maar een mogelijke suggestie voor uw wijnfrigootje hoor. Niet meer dan dat…. amaai,
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