The Vines (Fall 2022)

Project Background

The Vines Foundation is a catalyst for positive change in Tunuyan, a city in the West of the province of Mendoza, Argentina, exploring ways to empower our community to enhance health, end hunger and overcome hardship, as well as promote sustainable livelihoods. As the philanthropic arm of The Vines, an Argentine farming, winemaking and hospitality company (vinesofmendoza.com, vinesresortandspa.com) with deep connections to international resources through our clients in the US, Europe, and Brazil, the Foundation is leveraging these resources to meet the immediate and long-term needs of the local community. Most importantly, we are building capacity within our community and the organizations we work with, and seeking to engage community members and organizations, local and national businesses, and the municipal government to address complex challenges. 

Definition of Opportunity

In the fall of 2021, and in the spring of 2022, the Vines Foundation partnered with the University of Notre Dame Development Advisory Teams (DAT) to create a strategic and inspirational mission and vision statement for the Foundation, which will serve as guiding principles for the foundation as it expands its community work. We seek to communicate through our work the importance of accompaniment and co-creation, in which we see our community members as partners who are the first and best teachers capable of enacting change and creating opportunities for their families and neighborhoods. Working together with the community and the DAT, we developed strategies to bring together an effective working/community group of local leaders to guide the development process.

Currently, the community engagement efforts of the Foundation are structured around:

Engaging in co-creative efforts to realize sustainable projects in the community.

Maintaining and developing relationships with community members to strengthen a chain of transparent communication and feedback throughout project development and implementation.

Creating a network of local and regional organizations and businesses to partner with the comedores to allow for simultaneous investment in capacity-building and increased community independence. Develop best practices for increasing presence of Social Corporate Responsibility (RSE) in alliance’s work.

Currently, the project-based efforts of the Foundation are structured around:

Providing food weekly to the comedores (soup kitchens) of Tunuyan, which serve as community spaces where children can receive meals during the week and interact with each other.

Increasing comedor capacity through workshops and educational and recreational opportunities to be held on-site.

Developing a community garden at 3 different comedores, which will serve as a pilot project for the community to grow in independence and learn new skills.

Maintaining a dog refuge/shelter on property grounds to care for, vaccinate, and facilitate adoption for stray dogs. We are also seeking to evaluate resource dedication towards facilitating spaying/neutering for street dogs in the community

Definition of Success

Through working with a fall 2022 DAT, we hope to generate interest, excitement and actions in support of The Vines Foundation.  We plan to firmly establish the base for expansion and replication of our successful projects and develop strategies to increase the monetary and non-monetary resources and capacities of the foundation.  

Meet the Team

Final Deliverable

The Vines Fall 2022 Final Deliverable by Joseph Drey on Scribd

The Vines (Spring 2022)

Project Background

The Vines Foundation is a catalyst for positive change in Tunuyan, Mendoza, exploring ways to empower our community to enhance health, end hunger and overcome hardship, as well as promote sustainable livelihoods. As the philanthropic arm of The Vines, an Argentine farming, winemaking and hospitality company (vinesofmendoza.com, vinesresortandspa.com) with deep connections to international resources through our clients in the US, Europe and Brazil, The Vines Foundation is leveraging these resources to meet the immediate and long-term needs of the local community. Most important, we are building capacity within our community and the organizations we work with, and seeking to engage community members and organizations,  local and national businesses, along with the government to solve complex challenges.

Definition of Opportunity

In the fall 2021, for the first time, the Vines Foundation partnered with a DAT to begin to create a strategic and inspirational mission and vision statement for the Foundation, which will serve as the foundation expands its community work for at least the next decade.  We hope that two of the students that worked on the project, Lucie Kneip (lkneip@nd.edu) and Carson Krol (ckrol@nd.edu), will continue to be engaged with the DAT this spring and as interns this summer at The Vines in Mendoza.

As a next step, we want to expand on the work completed to identify solid guiding principles, and meaningfully engage prospective donors and partners to unite a force for good. In the end, we want to become a model for sustainable development upon which others can base their initiatives to effectively serve the needs of the broader region and country of Argentina.

 During 2022, we aim to move from the mission and vision development phase to the execution phase by:

·  Creating a structure and strategies to bring together an effective working/community group of local leaders guiding the development process and creating goals; and an advisory board of donors and global stakeholders.

·  Developing a strategy to continue to support the 10 community kitchens we have been helping and a plan to transition that support into a more sustainable operation, likely by bringing in partners from the community and region.

·  Outlining a plan to evaluate the feasibility of, and if it is feasible, implement the “Rosario project” of community development in Tunuyan.

· Creating a best practices document for the dog rescue shelter at The Vines, and the evaluation of a mobile spay/neuter clinic.

Definition of Success

Through the work with a spring 2022 DAT, we hope to generate interest, excitement and actions in support of The Vines Foundation. This might include providing hands-on volunteer experiences for individuals to become connected to the mission of The Vines Foundation.  We plan to move from the theoretical to the execution stage, developing the initial parts of a strategic plan.  We will build on initial dialogues with members of the local community that DAT members carried out to explore further opportunities for becoming an incubator of new thoughts, strategies and methods to identify and solve the ever-changing needs of the local community.

Meet the Team

Final Deliverable

The Vines [Food Security] (Fall 2021)

Project Background

 Valle de Uco (Uco Valley) is an agricultural region southwest of Mendoza, Argentina. Despite Argentina being a strong agricultural exporter, extreme food insecurity in the country. Roughly 60% of Argentinian children were living in poverty when the second wave of Covid-19 infections struck. 40 percent of children in Argentina suffer from malnutrition. 

The Vines Foundation is a catalyst for change in Tunuyan, Mendoza, empowering our community to enhance health, end hunger and overcome hardship so they might regain sustainable livelihoods. As the philanthropic arm of an Argentine farming, winemaking, and hospitality company with deep connections to international resources through our clients in the US, Europe, and Brazil, The Vines Foundation is leveraging these resources to meet the immediate local challenge of food insecurity, feeding about 1,000 children each month who otherwise go hungry. Most importantly, however, we are building capacity within our community and the organizations we work with, and seeking to engage local and national businesses, along with the government to solve this crisis of being an agriculturally rich county in which many of its children are starving, and thereby sacrificing their future. 

Definition of Opportunity

 The Vines Foundation is interested in partnering with DAT to explore building new skills and capacities for solving food insecurity in the agriculturally rich Uco Valley as a pilot project. We hope that initial success in the Uco Valley could be replicated first throughout the province of Mendoza and then potentially have an impact across Argentina. 

Definition of Success

Generate a clear understanding of the scope of hunger in the Uco Valley, including detailed data to be able to share with policymakers, community leaders, and donors. 

Identify advocacy and legislative opportunities to incentivize food donations. 

Determine the feasibility of an Urban Agriculture Program whereby donated land could be farmed, creating jobs and food for the community, or other creative opportunities for development that address issues of chronic hunger, malnutrition, and underemployment.  

Meet the Team

The Vines [Strategy] (Fall 2021)

Project Background

The Vines Foundation is a catalyst for positive change in Tunuyan, Mendoza, empowering our community to enhance health, end hunger and overcome hardship, as well as promote sustainable livelihoods. 

As the philanthropic arm of The Vines, an Argentine farming, winemaking and hospitality company (vinesofmendoza.com, vinesresortandspa.com) with deep connections to international resources through our clients in the US, Europe and Brazil, The Vines Foundation is leveraging these resources to meet the immediate and long term needs of the local community. Most importantly, however, we are building capacity within our community and the organizations we work with, and seeking to engage local and national businesses, along with the government to solve complex challenges. 

Definition of Opportunity

 The Vines Foundation is interested in partnering with DAT to create a strategic and inspirational mission and vision statement, which will serve as the foundation for our community work for at least the next decade. We will also identify solid guiding principles, and meaningfully engage prospect donors and partners to unite a force for good. 

Definition of Success

Generate interest, excitement and action in support of The Vines Foundation. Provide hands-on volunteer experiences for individuals to become connected to the mission of The Vines Foundation. 

Be an incubator of new thoughts, strategies and methods to identify and solve the ever-changing needs of the local community. Become a model upon which others can base their initiatives to effectively serve the needs of the broader region and country of Argentina. 

Meet the Team