Help Support the Osborn Family of Fox Run at Benefit Wine Dinner

If you can, please plan on coming out to this Benefit or please donate items. For more information about the benefit or to make a donation, call the Yates County Chamber of Commerce at 536-3111. See more information in the article below from the Finger Lakes Times.


Benefit will help Fox Run after fire By AMANDA FOLTS/Finger Lakes TimesMonday, November 5, 2007 11:03 AM CST

PENN YAN - Area winery and restaurant owners have banded together to help one of their own, organizing a wine and dine benefit for the owners of Fox Run Winery, whose home was damaged in an Oct. 27 fire. Scheduled for Nov. 13 at Anthony Road Winery, the benefit will raise money for members of the Osborn family, who escaped injury but lost a pet in the fire. Guests will receive a wine glass and plate to take to the stations set up at the winery. Restaurants will have samples of their best dishes at the tables, and other Finger Lakes wineries will provide tastings of their wines. “More than anything, I hope they realize how much the community cares about them and supports them,” said Meredith Race, Anthony Road's tasting room manager. Restaurants providing food for the event include the Red Newt, Veraisons, the caf頡t Fox Run, Simply Red Bistro at Sheldrake and the Classic Cafe in Dundee. Wineries that will be pouring include Glenora, Fulkerson, Four Chimneys and Bully Hill.

There will also be a silent auction, which will include gift certificates, wines and local art. Organizers are still accepting contributions. “We have a great committee - we pulled the event together very quickly,” said Joyce Hunt, co-owner of Hunt Country Winery. “We had a good response from wineries and restaurants, so we hope the community will support it by showing up.” Hunt said her husband is a volunteer firefighter and that he saw fairly substantial damage when he went to the Osborn's house. She said the funds from the benefit will help the family get back on its feet and replace the possessions they lost in the fire. The Osborns are renting a house in Geneva until their Benton home can be rebuilt. Ruth Osborn said she believes repairs will take about six months. Only the back of the house was burned, she said, but smoke and water damaged the rest.

The kitchen, laundry room, pantry, back and side porches, powder room and both bathrooms are completely gone, but the attic and roof remain intact. Osborn stressed the need for people to check the personal contents coverage on their insurance policies, which basically covers everything in the house that is not nailed down. “You think you have enough - then something like this happens,” she said. “It's really an eye-opener.” Most of all, Osborn said, her family has benefited from the care, support and outpouring of kindness they have received since the fire.
“We've had so much support and love - calls, E-mails, people just stopping in,” she said. “Everyone offering us places to stay, to do our laundry, to walk our dog. We've had food brought to us. Even people we don't know. It's amazing.”This weekend, the Osborns and some of their friends plan to go through the house to salvage anything that was not destroyed and discard anything that was. She said some of the furniture can be saved, but the family's beds are gone. Osborn's husband Scott and her 17-year-old son Michael were in the house at the time of the fire. Both were able to exit without injury and save their dog, but their cat was lost. “Something good always comes out of something bad.” Osborn said. “We feel so rich to have the friends we have. There's so much support to help us get through this, we can't thank people enough.” The benefit will be held Nov. 13 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Anthony Road Winery, 1020 Anthony Road. “We're just happy we can help out,” Martini said. “We have good space for everyone to congregate. People can come and share good food and good wine with good friends.”

For more information about the benefit or to make a donation, call the Yates County Chamber of Commerce at 536-3111.