Wine for Wheels

Anyone who knows Gordon Holmes, knows he’s passionate about wine. It’s why he left a successful publishing career on Wall Street to start Lookout Ridge winery in Sonoma County. But it wasn’t until he combined his passion with compassion that he made a remarkable discovery.

“When I figured out that a simple thing could change somebody’s life… that is magic,” he says.

Gordon’s moment of truth came when he met Jeff and David Behring – sons of successful East Bay developer Ken Behring, who founded the non-profit Wheelchair Foundation. It was over wine at a Foundation fundraiser that Gordon got involved.

“When they explained to me the number of people around the world that had no mobility and had no chance of mobility, I just felt that there was a magic connection—that I was there for a reason,” says Gordon.

Gordon hit the road with the Behrings to see first-hand the difference he could make by donating wheelchairs.

“The second you put somebody in a wheelchair it changed their life and it changed the family,” explains Wheelchair Foundation President David Behring. “They no longer have to carry their son or daughter around. They can move by themselves. They can go to school. They can return to work… so it has an immediate impact.”

That’s an impact Gordon experienced in his own home, when his wife Kari, diagnosed with MS, first got a wheelchair.

“I saw her regain her mobility and her self respect and independence,” he says. “She was losing it and that’s a very scary thing.”

So Gordon made a decision: for every case of wine his winery sold, he would donate the profit to buy a wheelchair. So far, he’s donated over 500 of them.

“The idea was basically turning the winery into a philanthropic charitable machine, so that every time somebody buys a case of wine, Lookout Ridge Wine, we put someone in a wheelchair who can’t afford it. It’s not about making money.”

On the open market, a wheelchair like the ones Gordon donates costs 500 dollars. But through the Wheelchair Foundation and matching grants, a donation of 75-dollars puts a person in a chair.

The Wheelchair Foundation estimates 100 million people worldwide need wheelchairs but can’t afford one. Gordon plans to make sure his project alone cuts that number down a bit.

“I’d like to see 5 thousand people who don’t have wheelchairs get wheelchairs,” he says.

So for restoring mobility and independence to those in need around the world, this week’s Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to Gordon Holmes.

To view a video that aired on CBS Channel 5 (San Francisco Bay Area), click here.