The V Foundation for Cancer Research, a top-rated cancer research charity, announced the 25th Anniversary V Foundation Wine Celebration, held August 3 – 6, 2023, raised a record-breaking $21 million in the Napa Valley, with 100% of proceeds supporting novel ideas and breakthroughs in cancer research. The goal of exceeding $150 million raised by year 25 was surpassed with a total fundraising effort of over $158 million to date.

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The 2022 V Foundation Wine Celebration raised more than $6.5 million, with proceeds supporting early detection research. The weekend was co-hosted by Mike “Coach K” Kryzyzewski, Former Head Coach of Duke University Men’s Basketball and Devon Still, Former NFL Defensive End, and 2015 Jimmy V Perseverance Award Winner. A weekend highlight was the Title IX Luncheon, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the passing of the landmark federal civil rights law, which featured Olympic champion cross-country skier Kikkan Randall, former world No. 1 female billiard player Jeanette Lee, FISA world rowing champion and Olympic silver medalist Kate Johnson, and 4-time Olympian, 3-time World Championship medalist and 12-time U.S. National High Jump Champion Chaunté Lowe, all of whom have courageously fought cancer.

Samantha Rudd of Rudd Estate was this year’s Vintner Grant Honoree. Because of a family history, Samantha will focus her grant on early detection in the fight against cancer, in memory of her father Leslie Rudd, who she lost to esophageal cancer in 2018.

The live auction gala held at Nickel & Nickel Winery capped off the event with the evening’s top lot, donated by world renowned winemaker, Jean Phillips in memory of Ron Kuhn, a V Foundation Wine Celebration and Napa Valley longtime friend, dedicated supported, and philanthropist. The gavel came down at $270,000 for this special lot featuring a 1992 6-Liter of Screaming Eagle, one of two ever produced.

The 2021 V Foundation Wine Celebration raised more than $12 million during a full weekend of events in the Napa Valley, with proceeds supporting cutting edge immunotherapy research. As part of their efforts, the V Foundation for Cancer Research has partnered with the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI) to co-fund up to four Parker Bridge Fellows grants for early career researchers.

The weekend was hosted by Duke University Head Men’s Basketball Coach Mike “Coach K” Krzyzewski, V Foundation Board Member and ESPN “SportsCenter” Anchor Sage Steele, and ESPN College Basketball Analyst Jay Bilas. From the gala dinner and live auction to the Answer for Cancer Symposium and ‘Rock the V’ party, the event hosted aver 450 guests and featured CNN Commentator Paul Begala as a guest speaker.

The highlight of this year’s event was the live auction gala held at Nickel & Nickel Winery with dozens of incredible lots up for bid. The evening’s top lot thrilled attendees by reaching $1 million for The Legend’s Last Legacy, Duke vs. UNC, featuring a once-in-a-lifetime weekend trip to join Duke’s Coach K for his final home game at Cameron Indoor stadium.

MOMENTUM 2.0, The V Foundation Wine Celebration, held virtually on August 8, 2020, raised over $3.6 million to support the V Foundation’s fight to achieve Victory Over Cancer®.

Hosted by the all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history, Mike “Coach K” Krzyzewski, ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas, ESPN’s “SportsCenter” Anchor Sage Steele, and Emmy award-winning auctioneer John Curley, the annual gala event featured six one-of-a-kind auction items, celebrity and musical appearances, and the chance to raise a glass with fellow V Wine Celebration guests, all coming virtually together to raise critical funds for cancer research.

Hosted by Mike “Coach K” Krzyzewski, Duke University men’s basketball coach and V Foundation Board Member, the three-day signature fundraising event raised over $7 million for cancer research. The total included $5 million in “Fund-A-Need” donations to support the V Foundation’s Canine Comparative Oncology program.

We honored Joe & Pat Harbison, of Harbison Estate Wines, with the 2019 Vintners Grant for Esophageal Cancer.

In its 26 years, the V Foundation has awarded more than $225 million in cancer research grants nationwide.

The 20^th Anniversary V Wine Celebration event weekend was hosted by Coach K, Robin Roberts, Scott Hamilton, Lou Holtz, and Joe Theismann.  The total included more than $16 million in “fund-a-need” donations to our Endowment, ensuring the longevity of our mission model –that 100% of every direct donation goes to fund cancer research.

We celebrated our six Vintner Grant Honorees; Suzanne Pride Bryan, Karen Aldoroty, Gina Gallo, Lauren Ackerman, Beth Novak Millken, in honor of her mother, Mary Novak, and Robin Lail, who were honored in the area of Breast Cancer Research.

To date, the V Foundation has awarded over $200 million in cancer research grants.

A $3 million dollar match-challenge from the BRCA Foundation and the Gray Foundation, and a $1 million dollar pledge from Wayne & Nan Kocourek led the paddle raises.

Kary and David Duncan, Vintner Grant Honorees and owners of Silver Oak and Twomey Cellars, were recognized with two grants in their names to Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Cancer Research, and the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The V Foundation Wine Celebration has now awarded nearly $90 million for cancer research.

Launny & Weezie Steffens, of Vineyard 7 & 8, were Vintner Grant Honorees.
The theme for V Wine Celebration, “Laugh, Think, Cry,” was taken from the late North Carolina basketball coach and ESPN commentator Jim Valvano’s 1993 speech at the inaugural ESPY awards. To this day, Theismann carries a copy of Valvano’s speech in his briefcase.

It’s nasty, but it is defeatable, and I believe in our lifetime we will see a cure for cancer. Not a treatment for cancer, but a cure for cancer.
– Joe Theismann

Our Vintner Grant Honorees, Elaine & Rick Jones, of Jones Family Vineyards, were awarded a pancreatic research grant at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

It’s the personal connection that forms the powerful emotional spirit of the auction gala evening. As he addressed the group, Coach K asked diners to stand if they were a survivor of cancer and then to stand if they knew a friend or family member who had had cancer. “Is anyone still sitting?” he asked. It didn’t look like it. “Everybody’s part of the team tonight.”

Jimmy was about winning, and if as a result, we’re finding cures, cancer is losing; but we haven’t won yet. – Coach K

A generous and impactful pledge of $1 million from Ron & Teri Kuhn, proprietors of Pillar Rock Vineyards, inspired heartfelt giving at the auction. The Vintner Grant is awarded in honor of Naoko Dalla Valle for a special Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) clinical trial at UCSF.

Jimmy said we’re not going to fight cancer, we’re going to cure cancer. He insisted that we fund research.
– Steve Bornstein

Susan Braun, newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of the V Foundation, succeeds Jim Valvano’s beloved brother, Nick Valvano. The first in-house Pathology Laboratory in the Napa Valley, funded by the V Foundation Wine Celebration, opens at the new Advanced Diagnostic & Surgical Center at Queen of the Valley.

Together we can find a cure!
– Susan Braun

The Vintner Grant was awarded in honor of Suzanne Pride Bryan for breast cancer research at the Masonic Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota. The inaugural Volunteer Grant was awarded to UCSF in honor of Derek & Cathy Reisinger. Coach K, and V Board member and Chairman of the US Olympic Committee, Larry Probst, win gold for the US in London. Entertainment by Chris Isaak

If what you did yesterday seems big, you haven’t done anything today – Lou Holtz

Inaugural “Let’s Get it Started” Party kicked off the V Foundation Wine Celebration weekend and shattered auction records, placing the V Foundation Wine Celebration at #3 in Wine Spectator’s Top Ten Charitable Wine Auctions in the United States. The Vintner Grant was awarded in honor of Robin & Michelle Baggett for stomach cancer research at the Children’s Hospital in Boston. The Inspirational Award was given in honor of Neil Aldoroty for Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma research at the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope. Entertainment by the Doobie Brothers.

Chasing my kids around the ice? I didn’t think that I would be saying that a year ago.
– Scott Hamilton

Fund a Need in honor of Teri Kuhn for leukemia research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Entertainment by Huey Lewis & The News. The V Foundation reaches a milestone of $100 million awarded for cancer research.

The V Foundation Atrium of Hope is named. The 11,500 square-foot St. Helena Hospital Cancer Center, funded by the V Foundation Wine Celebration, opened the doors to cancer patients in the Napa Valley community. The Fund A Need and Vintner Grant was awarded in honor of Emily Miner for lung cancer research at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, with entertainment by The Pointer Sisters.

The 10th Anniversary of the V Foundation Wine Celebration was hosted by “Good Morning America” co-anchor, Robin Roberts, celebrating her one-year anniversary as a breast cancer survivor. ESPN honored Robin with a $100,000 pledge in her name. A $1 million grant was awarded to pediatric cancer at UCSF. V Board member, Coach K achieves Olympic Gold in Beijing. The Vintner Grant was awarded in honor of the partners of Far Niente for thyroid cancer research at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Entertainment by Frankie Vallie and The Four Seasons.

What you have done in the last 10 years has made a difference in countless lives. – Robin Roberts

Broadcasting legend, Dick Vitale, college basketball’s top analyst and ESPN ambassador, hosts the V Foundation Wine Celebration. The Fund A Need raised funds for the new state-of-the-art cancer center at St. Helena Hospital. The Vintner Grant was awarded in honor of Robin Lail, of Lail Family Vineyards for breast cancer research at MD Anderson Cancer Center, with entertainment by Daryl Hall & John Oates.

I will always see Jimmy’s legacy not in him cutting down the nets after N.C. State won the nation championship, but in the millions of lives he has touched through the V Foundation – Dick Vitale

The Fund A Need was in honor of Jim Valvano’s daughter, Jamie Valvano Howard, for genomic breast cancer research. The Partners in Excellence grant was awarded to Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center and UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. The 59,000 square-foot Wellness Center at Queen of the Valley, funded by the V Foundation Wine Celebration, opens the doors to the community and establishes a survivorship program for cancer patients. The Vintner Grant was awarded in honor of Chuck & Anne McMinn, of Vineyard 29 for a V Scholar at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. The V Foundation Wine Celebration was hosted by former Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz, with entertainment by Kenny Loggins.

I am alive today because of cancer research – Jamie Valvano

Nickel and Nickel Winery becomes the home of the annual V Foundation Wine Celebration event hosted by owner, Beth Nickel. The V Foundation, with the support of a $2 million dollar pledge by founding partner ESPN, becomes fully endowed, and awards 100% of all donations directly to cancer research and related programs. The Vintner Grant was awarded in honor of Leslie Rudd and Todd Zapolski for lung cancer research at Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Jacksonville, Florida. The V Foundation Wine Celebration hosted its first private concert with entertainment by Michael McDonald.

We remain fully committed to working with the V Foundation to fight this terrible disease, which impacts too many of our fans and members of our ESPN family.
– George Bodenheimer

Olympic Gold Medal Skater and V Board member, Peggy Fleming hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for the V Foundation Wine Celebration funded Wellness Center at Queen of the Valley Hospital. The Vintner Grant was awarded in honor of Garen & Shari Staglin, of Staglin Family Vineyard for Leukemia research, in memory of Garen’s father Pasquale Stagliano, at the University of Chicago Cancer Research Center. The Fund A Need for special melanoma research was in honor of the late Gil Nickel, founder of Far Niente. A successful campaign ensued to raise $1 million to endow the Fellowship for the Gil Nickel Fund awarded to The UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center.

I feel very grateful that I survived and my message is early detection.
– Peggy Fleming

Far Niente winery owner Gil Nickel was presented with the V Founders Courage Award alongside his beloved wife, Beth.

The Charles Schwab Cup Championship partnered with the V Wine Celebration as a benefitting charity during the PGA tour. The Vintner Grant was awarded in honor of Mark Beringer for Sarcoma research at UC Davis.

We are just one miracle away from having everything just right in our fight against cancer. – Gil Nickel

The V Foundation Wine Celebration made the Wine Spectator’s Top Ten list of charity wine auctions.
The Vintner Grant was awarded in honor of Mitch Cosentino, for Melanoma Research at the University of Colorado Health and Sciences Center, in memory of his mother, Ariene Cosentino.

Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Duke University Coach Mike Krzyzewski, and his wife Mickie, host the V Foundation Wine Celebration event.

The V Foundation is awarded 4-Stars by Charity Navigator and becomes one of the top-rated charities in the United States.

The Vintner Grant was awarded in honor of Dick & Ann Grace, of Grace Family Vineyards for Neuroblastoma research at UCSF on behalf of Jay Ferrick. The Joan Rombauer Endowed Fellowship in Pancreatic Cancer research at UC San Francisco was established

Part of beating cancer is having a positive attitude. – Coach K

Nick Valvano, Jim Valvano’s older brother, became the Chief Executive Officer of The V Foundation.

The first annual V Foundation Wine Celebration Vintners Grant was awarded in honor of Rennick Andrew Harris Jr. for integrative approaches to reducing the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy in cancer patients at UC San Diego. Grants were also awarded to benefit innovative research programs at Stanford University Medical Center.

If anything good came of Jim’s death, it’s that the foundation provided the knowledge of what should be done right away in terms of early detection and early treatment. – Nick Valvano

Julie Allegro, daughter of V Foundation Board member, Jim Allegro, had an idea of how to raise money to fight cancer.

She met with Bob Lloyd, Chairman of the V Foundation. Together, they formed a local V Foundation Wine Celebration board with the inaugural event held that August raising more than $400,000.

People say ‘How can you find the time?’ My answer is ‘How can we not? – Julie Allegro