ST. LOUIS – The goal is simple, hence the foundation of its name: Support Local Charities.

Support Local Charities is an organization with the goal-oriented mindset of uplifting local small businesses and nonprofits in underserved communities.

Wine and Food Holiday Festival

Its latest project, with the correlation of director and founder Curtis Triggs Jr., was its second annual Wine and Food Holiday Festival in St. Louis.

The festival took place at the Cortex Commons on Saturday, Oct. 11.

According to Triggs, the idea behind hosting this festival each year is to give small businesses and charities a chance to gain traction and recognition with a platform to support their brand.

“We thought bringing a festival together would be a great way for them to get some exposure and this could be a good opportunity to raise some money for them,” Triggs said. “A wine festival felt like a good way to do that.”

Each year, the organization chooses three charities to recognize at the festival, where they will have booth space and receive funding from the proceeds earned at the event.

Support Local Charities also donates volunteers to help with their cause.

This year, the charities recognized were Doula Lab, Annie Malone Children and Family Services and Hatz 4 Hearts.

Doula Lab is a pregnancy care center based in Belleville, Illinois. Its goal is to end the maternal health desert in the metro communities. 

Annie Maline Children and Family Services was founded in 1888 as an orphan home for St. Louis minority children. Now, providing care for over a decade, they have grown into a multi-service center. They address the social and educational needs of children and families in underserved communities.

Finally, Hatz 4 Hearts is a cancer awareness-based organization. They support patients undergoing chemotherapy, bringing awareness to the health disparity among uninsured families. They recognized the reality and fear of losing hair to chemotherapy, so their mission is straightforward: ‘give a hat, warm a heart.’ 

Along with these three charities, Support Local Charities partnered with Cortex and Randall’s Wine and Spirits for the festival. They also gave booth space to multiple other small businesses to sell their products and services, including 10 food vendors and local wineries. 

“For the most part, it’s just us trying to give back to the community,” Triggs said. “The main focus of the festival is the wine tasting. For an affordable ticket price, you’re able to go around and experience over 100 different wines. We also had 20 different bourbons and 20 different tequilas this year. We gave people a chance to go to all of these different tents and taste wines and spirits they may have seen on the shelves, but never got a chance to taste.”

While tasting wine and giving back to the community were the main focuses, the festival also had games, retail vendors and live music. They topped the experience off this year with a cigar lounge, catering to all audiences.

Wine and Food Holiday Festival Wine Competition Winners

New to this year’s experience, prior to the festival, Support Local Charities held a Wine and Food Holiday Festival Wine Competition.

This competition featured professional sommeliers and oneophiles tasting 15 different wines, rating them individually and then ranking them.

“Most wine festivals around the country bring in wine experts and sommeliers to blind taste the wines presented at the festival,” Triggs said. “Each winery at the festival presented its top wines to get judged. This helps people know they are tasting great quality wine.”

The contest had three category winners. The Vanguard Award for new wineries, the Midwestern Award for wines produced in the Midwest and the Grand Prize winner for the top wine overall.

The winner of the Vanguard Award was Socially Her Chateaux’s Peach Wine.

Chateau Sainte Genevieve’s Lilac Rose Wine won the Midwestern Choice Award. 

Finally, the Grand Prize went to 90+ Cellars’ Napa Valley Chardonnay.

“This was our introductory year of doing a wine competition,” Triggs said. “We wanted to make sure we had a high-quality sample group that would represent the Midwest pretty well.”

After another successful year, Triggs and Support Local Charities are now preparing for their third annual festival next year.

His goal is to continue providing a stage for small businesses and an event for the community to enjoy.

“Our goal is to always host a nice, quality event,” Triggs said. “We just want to make sure whoever comes has a good time, no matter who they are. Whether it’s for a professional outing or it’s just an individual coming to learn more about wine, they should have a good time. The goal is not for it to necessarily be bigger each year, but for it to be better each year.”