Sponsorship and Advertising with the Long Beach Grand Cru

"My partners and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at the Long Beach Grand Cru's international 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. Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro LLP

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 2007, the Grand Cru Public Tasting attracted over 1,400 business, civic and community leaders and raised a record $334,000. The Grand Cru maintains an active volunteer base of approximately 381 individuals who are employed in various professions. The Grand Cru solicits winery participation nationally and internationally and 1,960 wines were entered in the 2007 competition. Medals were awarded in the following categories: Sweepstakes, Chairman's Best of Class, Gold, Silver and Bronze. The website has become very active. From April through August we receive approximately 45,000 to 90,000 hits during peek months. Since its inception, the Grand Cru has raised over $2,471,809 for the programs and services provided by the Legal Aid Foundation.

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. In 2006, the Foundation's advocates helped transform the lives of more than 14,000 clients and aided 55,000 more through outreach programs—men, women, children, and seniors whose disadvantaged circumstances made them vulnerable to fraud, abuse, neglect and bureaucratic error.