Corks for Charity

While I was digging around online looking for a place to buy my new favorite wine, I came across this website. How may wine drinkers out there have gobs of corks laying around with nothing to do with them? I know we do. I have a centerpiece on my dining room table filled with corks, a vase filled with them, shoe boxes filled. And you are sure to find a few in any given kitchen drawer! I did once see in a Pottery Barn catalog a bulletin board made of corks, so I have been saving some up so I can make one for myself rather than paying close to $100 for one! I figure, if you are going to spend $100 on corks, you might as well get the wine along with it!

Anyway, yesterday when I was looking to buy The Show I came across the above mentioned website. Here's what I found out about it...

A Nashville area foundation called Sports 4 All has come up with an ingenious way to raise money. They are asking for your used wine corks. They are gathering corks from local restaurants, individuals and retailers, sorting them, and then they sell them to artists all over the country and beyond. "There is an artist in California who has a large standing order we can't fill at the moment", Sara Koppelman, Program Manager told me recently. Sports 4 All raises money and solicits sporting equipment and provides equipment and recreational opportunities for disabled persons of all ages.
Sara and Sports 4 All President Kris Salisbury do most of the work at Sports 4 All, but all of the proceeds of their work goes into the foundation. They don't receive payment for their work. The two came together about 2 years ago when Koppelman was working at a Down's Syndrome camp and needed equipment. She met Kris and they began working together on the foundation that Salisbury, a Down's Syndrome parent had begun over 10 years ago. Sara and Kris share a love for wine, and it was over a glass that they had the bright idea now known as "Corks 4 Charity".
It has worked. Now they are putting the word out to do more of it. "The market is there", Sara told me. We have signed up local restaurants like J. Alexander's and Park Cafe, and put the word out to local tasting events and to our friends. On a bi-weekly basis, Sports 4 All makes a “cork run” (cork retrieval trip) and collects the corks which then get separated into groups of 100. The lots of 100 corks are then sold to artists for creative projects including: picture frame ornamentation, furniture design, dartboard backsplashes, wreaths, and many other artistic endeavors. When we get a bunch of corks, we get together for "cork therapy", when we sort them out, separating out the real corks from the synthetic ones. "We market on eBay, and when artists find out we have corks available, we become a supplier to them. "We can sell as many corks as we can gather."
"Corks 4 Charity creates a community of recycling and giving, providing unique corks to creative minds and artists, raising awareness of Sports 4 All Foundation, and offering a reliable funding source to fulfill Sports 4 All’s Mission: to improve the quality of life of individuals with disabilities by providing funding and equipment to enable full participation in sports and recreation activities. Corks 4 Charity is an easy was to give back to the community and recycle – simultaneously."

Should you have corks you wish to donate, or you have questions, you may contact:

Sports 4 All Foundation Kris Salisbury & Sara Koppelman 5827 Charlotte Pike Nashville, TN 615-354-6454 http://www.s4af.org