About six years ago, my good friend, Anna Hansen, asked me to help produce a fundraising dinner and bike ride for a cause that is very close to her heart , and we've been doing it every summer since. Anna volunteered for Camp Wapiyapi in her 20s, and it was an experience that left a permanent impression. Anna's fiancé, Lance Armstrong, and his Loyal Lieutenant from his cycling days, George Hincapie, lead a bike ride with the donors in the morning then everyone rests up and regroups for a fun dinner at Lance and Anna's home in Aspen. In 2017, Patron Tequila partnered with us to make the dinner more exciting. It's a known fact that tequila makes everything more fun, right? The CMO of Patron, Lee Applebaum, is good friends with Lance, and Lee offered to donate without hesitation. Patron has an amazing arsenal of craft cocktails centered around tequila. They brought in bartender extraordinaire from The Little Nell, Ricardo Leyvas, to mix everything to perfection. To make the night unforgettable and over the top, Lyle Lovett performed for us before dinner. Lance even joined his long time buddy on the mic for a song or two. Believe it or not, Lance wasn't too bad. Lyle didn't ask him to go on tour with him but maybe next year. To balance out the tequila, we also had the awesome Randy Lewis of Lewis Cellarsin attendance with great wines. Master sommelier, Bobby Stuckey, has partnered with us on the dinner every year to teach us some of his wine tasting tricks and break down the complicated skill of identifying wine profiles. The energy and generosity at this dinner are beyond impressive and make a huge impact on the camp's ability to host more campers each summer. We love doing this dinner and really, really love that it makes an impact on such an amazing organization. Camp Wapiyapi is a summer camp for children facing pediatric cancer and their siblings. Kids attend the camp at no cost to the families, so the amazing guests of the dinner know that for roughly every $1,000 they donate, a kid goes to camp. Please visit www.campwapiyapi.org to learn more about the great things they do.
