On Saturday, February 25, 2017, almost 350 supporters and guests gathered at The Townsend Hotel in Birmingham for the ninth annual Corks & Forks wine event presented by Harman, Yazaki, and Lear. VIP guests enjoyed the opportunity to taste a variety of specialty wines from Woodberry Wine while mingling with event chair Matt Joshua, Executive Director and Global Lead, Electrical Systems & Supplier Innovation at General Motors.
After the VIP Party, attendants enjoyed dinner while Winning Futures’ alumnus, Will Dunbar shared his story of how the program and his mentor, Charles Johnson, has impacted his life. Will lost his mother at a young age and was in search of direction and purpose when he began the Winning Futures program in 2014. With the advice to, “Find something you love to do,” from his Winning Futures Facilitator Bryan Howard, Will went to Focus Hope to attend their Information Technology Program and recently graduated second in his class. Will thanked Winning Futures and his mentor for helping him develop life skills for success. With teary eyes, the crowd cheered him on and congratulated him for his steadfast commitment to remaining positive and pushing through obstacles.
Celebrity auctioneer Les Gold of Hardcore Pawn auctioned off seven luxury packages to raise funds for our mentoring program. Because of the generosity of everyone involved, we exceeded our fundraising goal and raised $275,000.
Thank you to the 37 sponsors who supported this year’s event and all of the guests who helped make our 9th Annual Corks & Forks event a major success.