OLE HEALTH FOUNDATION RAISES $4.1 MILLION TO KICK OFF CAPITAL CAMPAIGN FOR NEW UP VALLEY HEALTH CENTER IN CALISTOGA
Funds raised will improve primary care access for more than 15,000 Up Valley residents
July 2, 2024 – NAPA – This weekend at its annual Vida OLE! celebration, the OLE Health Foundation kicked off an $8 million capital campaign to create a new primary care hub in Calistoga raising $4.1 million – half the goal – at an exciting auction held on Saturday, June 29, at Sullivan Rutherford Estate. The fund-a-need brought in nearly $3 million with $1 million pledged by OLE Health Foundation Board member Steve Fink and three $500,000 pledges from Foundation board members Naoko Dalla Valle of Dalla Valle Vineyards, Pete Richmond of Silverado Farming, and Rick and Elaine Jones of Jones Family Vineyards.
“This is an urgent need. Our Up Valley communities are currently under-resourced in terms of medical professionals and facilities,” said Rick Jones, OLE Health Foundation Treasurer and honorary capital campaign chair. “We need to take care of the people who are the backbone of our community, whether it be those in the vineyards and the wineries, the staff in our restaurants that we all enjoy, or the hotel employees, they all need to feel that this is a community that supports them. I am excited about the vision for the new facility.”
Nearly a decade in the making, the new 11,000 square foot Up Valley Campus will address a critical community need for primary care access north of the Napa city limits. Located on a parcel at the east end of Lincoln Avenue in Calistoga purchased by OLE Health in 2023, the new health center will offer medical, dental, behavioral health, and other primary care services for everyone who lives and works in the Napa County’s Up Valley communities, regardless of insurance or ability to pay.
“We are the medical home for 60% of the residents who live Up Valley, and the reality is that we simply cannot provide the same access and services our patients have come to rely on in our current facilities,” said Alicia Hardy, Chief Executive Officer of Communicare+OLE. “With a small, rented clinic in St. Helena and a 40-year-old double wide modular in Calistoga, we are long overdue to provide a state-of-the-art facility for our patients, our dedicated staff and our community.”
Funding for the project will come entirely from private donations secured through the OLE Health Foundation’s Up Valley Capital Campaign, co-chaired by Foundation board members Naoko Dalla Valle and Pete Richmond with Rick Jones of serving as Honorary Chair.
The Vida OLE auction, which served as the campaign’s public kick off, took place on Saturday, June 29, at Sullivan Rutherford Estate. The auction featured unique once-in-a-lifetime experiences, and the bidding reflected it. The biggest auction lot of the evening was a dinner featuring a vertical tasting of Dalla Valle Vineyards signature label, Maya, catered by the chef at world-renowned, three-star rated restaurant Single Thread, which went for $500,000. Other big-ticket items included the women’s luncheon honoring icons of Napa Valley, the men’s barbeque and poker night, a trip to Burgundy with Jean-Charles Boisset, and a trip to Argentina with vintners Barry and Jennifer Waitte.
The auction was the culmination of a weekend of events. The celebration began on Thursday, June 27, with the Visionaries Luncheon at Burgess Cellars, which provided a stunning backdrop to the festivities which honored the Napa Valley Vintners with the John Shafer Visionary Award. The Napa Valley Vintners have been invaluable in the history of the OLE Health Foundation, providing more than $40 million in financial support to the organization historically.
On Friday night, Darioush, DANA Estates, Stony Hill Vineyards, and vintner Jean-Charles Boisset pulled out all the stops for an incredible collection of vintner dinners that showcased some of the finest wine and cuisine Napa Valley has to offer. These intimate gatherings featured stories from CommuniCare+OLE Medical Directors who shared stories about patients
Vida OLE! was sponsored by Boisset Collection, Dalla Valle Vineyards, Kaiser Permanente, Mechanics Bank, Sullivan Rutherford Estate, Darioush, The Doctors Company, Exclusive Resorts, The Meritage Resort and Spa, Stony Hill Vineyards, Silicon Valley Bank, American Ag Credit, Bank of Marin, Bianco Winegrowing, Dana Estates, Loco Tequila, Aonair Wine, Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP, GVM Law LLP, J.P. Morgan, and The Press Democrat.
For more information, visit olehealth.org/auction.
About the OLE Health Foundation
The OLE Health Foundation was started by vintner John Shafer in 1986 to ensure a more stable financial future for OLE Health. As a separate 501c3, the OLE Health Foundation’s mission is to raise money and build support for the work of CommuniCare+OLE in Napa County. Its signature event, Vida OLE!, takes place each summer and includes three days of festivities geared toward celebrating the work of OLE Health and the special relationship the organization has with the vintner and business community in Napa County. The Foundation is governed by a board of directors comprised of community leaders. New members are nominated on a continuous basis and serve for a three-year term with no limit on reappointment.
