Sponsorship and Advertising with the Long Beach Grand Cru

"My partners and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at the Long Beach Grand Cru’s International food and wine festival. The wine, food and setting, coupled with the chance to meet many interesting people made for a wonderful evening."
—Scott M. Kalt, Esq., Elkins Kalt Weintraub Reuben Gartside LLP

Pre-Event Sponsor Party

The Sponsor Party will be held on Wednesday, April 28 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at Hotel Maya in Long Beach. (By invitation only. If you want to send a company representative, contact us before April 12 to receive an invitation.) Contact Ludmila Montoya at 213-640-3894.
Location.

Our deepest thanks and appreciation to Stan Sholik Photography. Stan has donated hundreds of hours over the last 8 years taking photos at all of the Grand Cru events and will continue to do so in 2010. Thanks also to the Big Thrill.

The Long Beach Grand Cru is a premier, highly visible international wine competition and public tasting event. Established in 1995, the event has grown in size and prestige and become well known nationally and internationally. There are five events over a six-month period -- Sponsor Party, International Wine Competition, Public Tasting, VIP Reception and Volunteer Party. In 2009, the Grand Cru Public Tasting attracted over 1,400 business, civic and community leaders. The Competition and Public Tasting raised $290,000. The Grand Cru maintains an active volunteer base of over 275 volunteers who are employed in various professions. The Grand Cru solicits winery participation nationally and internationally and in 2009 there were 344 wineries entering 1,600 wines from 22 states and 12 countries. Medals were awarded in the following categories: Sweepstakes, Chairman's Best of Class, Gold, Silver and Bronze. The website has become very active with 85,000- 200,000 hits during peak months and an annual total of 851,425. Since its inception the Grand Cru has raised over $3,109,000 for the Foundation's programs and services.

The "Grand Cru" was created and produced by the Legal Aid Foundation of Long Beach which merged with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA) on January 1, 2001. As a result of the merger, the market base covers a broad geographic region. LAFLA's reach extends from Santa Monica and Venice down to the Harbor-Long Beach area and east across the Los Angeles basin to South Central Los Angeles, East Los Angeles, Whittier and Hollywood.

The Foundation offers programs and services in civil legal matters to low-income and poverty-level families in times of need as they struggle to gain self-sufficiency. According to the United Way, Los Angeles County has the largest poverty population of any metropolitan area in the nation--22% of the county live in poverty and 33% of the region's children live in households that are at or below poverty level. LAFLA is committed to promoting access to justice, strengthening communities, and effecting systemic change through representation, advocacy and community education. LAFLA helps its clients escape domestic violence, avoid homelessness, obtain food and health care for themselves and their children, and move from welfare to work. LAFLA changes entire communities by helping to develop sorely needed jobs, affordable housing units, child care, youth services and other support systems in disadvantaged neighborhoods. LAFLA advocates transformed the lives of low-income families whose disadvantaged circumstances made them vulnerable to fraud, abuse neglect and bureaucratic error.

In 2009, a total of 170 volunteers provided the Long Beach Grand Cru Competition and the Public Tasting Event with more than 7,500 hours of assistance.