Good Food Revolution is proud to post the open letter below by rock legend and self-described “fermented grape enthusiast” Geddy Lee in support of a special COVID-19 wine auction meant to offer relief to our hospitality industry. Timing for the auction is still being worked out with Waddington’s, so watch GFR for more details as they emerge. – Jamie and Malcolm

An Open Letter To Ontario Wine Enthusiasts by Geddy Lee

The restaurant industry has been devastated by the outbreak of COVID-19. Among those impacted are people who are already among the most vulnerable in the work force: young Canadians whose first job is in a kitchen or new Canadians who bus tables while they learn the language, or multi-generational restaurateurs who have invested their entire future and their children’s by growing culinary institutions that make dining in our city the envy of major cities all over the world.

After years of enjoying their service, it’s our turn to serve them, the Chefs, sommeliers, waitstaff, delivery personnel, farmers, fisherman, bakers and more whose livelihood has evaporated virtually overnight.

They’re not doctors or ICU nurses, epidemiologists or vaccine manufacturers. But they are essential to us and have shared some of our life’s most intimate or profound moments (that big deal you landed! the night you got engaged!) or our toughest ones (goodbye dinners for kids heading off to college). I’m talking about people we know whose livelihood is the hospitality business. They make sure we have what we need, open early or stay late, find whatever we have to have that isn’t actually on the menu. Nothing is ever too much trouble. Now is the time to remember their generosity because they need our help.

In an effort to help these individuals who now find themselves in dire straights, Waddington’s in conjunction with Grapes for Humanity Canada will be hosting a Rare and Fine Wine Auction, the proceeds of which will benefit the Ontario hospitality industry and its struggling work force.

And so I am reaching out to you, my fellow wine lovers, to ask you to donate something great from your cellars. Something that wil! help us raise some badly needed funds to help keep our friends in the hospitality world afloat and better able to survive this economic tsunami.

We will come out of this… but right now we must throw a lifeline to those who need us… let’s do this by sharing our good fortune and raiding our wine cellars so the staff and independent restaurants can weather this storm.

Direct Benefactors include Toronto Restaurant Worker’s Relief Fund and Save Hospitality. Please fill out the forms below and forward to Grapes for Humanity Canada President Doris Miculan Bradley at 2dry@rogers.com. For more information, please contact Grapes for Humanity Canada.

Thank you so much,

Geddy Lee