An Evening of Wine, Women, and Chocolate

On the 22nd of October I had the opportunity to volunteer for the Women's Resource Center’s annual event Wine, Women & Chocolate. Since WRC is the client my team has been working with over the past few weeks, I was excited to see what they had in store for the women (and few men) who attended. I arrived to the event an hour early with my group, and helped with alphabetizing the name tags for the guests and volunteers. I couldn’t help but watch all of the women scramble around, putting the finishing touches on an event that most likely took months to plan.

A little over half an hour later, the attendees started pouring into Thousand Oaks Gold Club banquet. Hundreds of women dressed in their finest formal wear, searched for their name tags, grabbed their wine tasting glass and excitedly spoke to their friends and co-workers they saw as they entered the banquet. This event wasn’t my first time volunteering but I love seeing an instant reaction to something that I am contributing to.

Even though I had the simple task of greeting and passing out name tags to guests, I felt like I was a part of WRC’s huge effort to raise money for their center. Knowing that my work helped make a difference was all I needed to think about as I stood for a couple hours and watched everyone enjoy themselves. From the WRC employees admiring their hard work to the guests that enjoyed it, the Wine, Women & Chocolate event was a huge success in my eyes.

I didn’t get the chance to see the participant that spoke on behalf of the services that WRC’s offers, and how they changed her life, but hearing her speak outside the banquet hall was enough to convince me of the importance of having a place like this for women that want to succeed and have a good life.

When I attended volunteer orientation a few weeks ago, I got the chance to hear how much the money raised from this night benefits the center. I hope WRC met its goal and the attendees understand the value of a place like this when it came time to bet for the auction. No matter how much money was raised, the Women’s Resource Center should be proud of the event they threw and I’m excited to see the center continue to grow.

-Marcel Jeremiah, Account Associate