North Barrington man's fund-raisers offer taste

Barrington Courier-Review (IL)
September 3, 2009
Author: TONY A. SOLANO tsolano@pioneerlocal.com


North Barrington resident Anton Steinhart has raised over $300,000 for programs that help prevent homelessness by hosting wine tasting parties over the past two years.

Steinhart has been in the wine distribution business for over 35 years and two years ago he founded Wines For Humanity, which puts on in-home wine tasting parties featuring seven sample wines at $50 per party.

"I didn't want to be gone and realize I never did anything (charitable)," Steinhart said.

For $50 Steinhart or one of his trained wine advisors will come to the host's home bringing wine glasses, tablecloths, menus and red and white wines. He said the advisors will entertain and inform guests for two hours and the only thing the host is responsible for is supplying cheese and crackers.

"People come to the tastings with a lot of things on their mind but for that two hours you have no cares in the world," Steinhart said.

As with many wine tastings, guests have the opportunity to order bottles or cases of the wines they taste. The bottles cost an average of $20 each and are not sold in retail stores, Steinhart said. The wine advisor gets 20 ! percent of the total amount of wine purchased at each tasting.

"It's a business in a sense, but it's a business that gives from the bottom, not the top," Steinhart said.

He said on average, $2 of every bottle of wine purchased at the party is donated to charity and the donations are made regardless of whether he breaks even. The charity sends the host a thank you card with the amount on it as proof the charity received the money.

The $50 tastings should normally cost between $300 and $500 and therefore Steinhart said he has been losing money on the venture so far. Yet the business continues to grow as he now has 100 wine advisors in Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Indiana, North Carolina and Florida and he said if he maintains this pace he will break even by 2011.

"Once we get money we will have the option to donate more," Steinhart said. "The goal isn't to make money; it's to help people."

He has always taken an interest in helping the homeless and said the best way to do so is to prevent people from becoming home less in the first place by supporting organizations like PADS, the Salvation Army and others.

"Once people are homeless they've already been pulled apart by the trauma and it costs more money to get them back on their feet," Steinhart said.

For information on hosting a wine tasting party or becoming a wine advisor visit www.winesforhumanity.com.