Did you know, New York is home to the nation’s fifth largest veteran population, with over 718,000 veterans? We should all be proud of New York’s rich history and tradition of its citizens answering the call to serve. Many veterans have returned to start their own businesses in New York’s craft beverage industry and are making award winning products. So, let us take time today to recognize and honor our country’s veterans and thank them for their service.
Our membership renewal campaign continues this month. If you are a winery with a lapsed or soon-to-be lapsed membership, then you’ve probably heard from Jenn Cooper this fall. In August, we rolled out a new tiered membership structure, and evolved to include more educational webinars and capacity building resources. We know that it has been a difficult year with undercurrents of change coming prior to COVID. So, we pivoted our programming to respond to the new business climate to best equip the New York industry to adapt to the change.
Our membership services are dedicated to telling the amazing story of New York’s wineries and growers, and to improving our ability to succeed in a new business reality. We are excited to offer the industry expertise from Sandra Hess at DTC Wine Workshops, the WISE Academy, and a financial hotline with accounting firm Mengel Metzger Barr. We intend to build on these offerings in 2021 to enhance the value of membership even further. We invite all members of the industry to consider a membership with us as we look to build on New York’s reputation as one of the leading grape regions of the world. Learn more about membership with NYWGF here: https://newyorkwines.org/industry/membership/
I also would like to recognize one of our NYWGF Board Members, Dominick Purnomo, who was recognized last week by the Albany Business Review as one their 2020 Achievers: Changemakers. In response to COVID’s impacts on the Albany area, Dominick founded a new community effort called Feed Albany, which led volunteers to produce, package and distribute food and groceries to those in need. They have served well over 100,000 meals since the Spring.
