Sandpiper Farms creates Water from Wine nonprofit to fund clean water work

By Arielle Dreher

In a way, the family behind the local nonprofit Water from Wine is bringing the first miracle of Jesus turning water into a wine into a modern-day context, leveraging the rich wine-growing potential in the vineyard at Sandpiper Farms with the global need for clean drinking water.

The

nonprofit’s name, Water from Wine, is the eventual outcome of the

organization’s process.

Pat Tucker,

the owner of Sandpiper Farms, came up with the model and idea, merging his work

at the farm with his desire to give back.

Tucker grows

grapes on the six-acre vineyard and then has local winemakers make the wine.

The nonprofit

sells the wine and donates proceeds to clean water charities working in

communities around the world.

The idea for

Water from Wine, Tucker said, came from his involvement with his church’s

mission in rural Honduras. A member of Hillspring Church in Richland, Tucker

has been to Africa twice and said his trips exposed him to the global need for

water.

“It was very

profound to me,” he said.

Tucker has

been a farmer in the region for decades, starting Sandpiper Farms in 1974, and

he sees Water from Wine as a part of God’s plans for him after being abducted

and tortured by two former employees in 1996.

Tucker

survived and experienced a spiritual conversion that night. He credits his life

and work today to that purpose.

In 2014, he

was struggling with the vineyard on his property and considering different

options for it, from selling it to tearing it out.

Then he got

an idea.

“It kind of

just dawned on me that if I did something good with the proceeds from that

vineyard, that I’d take better care of it, and that’s in fact what happened,”

he said.

He had never

made wine from the vineyard’s grapes before, and he knew he would need help. He

didn’t have to look much further than his own kin.

Jamie

Ssenkubuge, the executive director of Water from Wine, is Tucker’s daughter.

With a background in global nonprofit work and a degree in global development,

Ssenkubuge moved back to the Tri-Cities in 2016 after a five-year stint living

abroad and working for several nonprofits.

Water from

Wine has a fairly straightforward model. The Sandpiper Farms vineyard is six

acres and its grapes can produce 1,000 cases of wine.

Tucker grows

grapes that can be made into cabernet sauvignon and rosé, and soon he plans to

donate the vineyard to the nonprofit, too.

Each fall,

volunteers come to harvest the grapes, and the fruit is sent to different local

wineries.

Volunteers

enjoy a meal in the aptly-named Cana Lodge at the vineyard for their efforts.

Water from

Wine then sells the rosé and the cabernet sauvignon, made by Horse Heaven Hills

Winery, with 100 percent of the proceeds from each bottle sale going to

nonprofits supporting clean water globally.

Water from

Wine coordinates and works with a handful of nonprofits whose mission is to

bring communities fresh water globally.

It had

donated more than $300,000 as of May 2019 to various nonprofits, which Tucker

says makes all the work worth it.

“My most

favorite thing of this whole job is signing the checks that go to those

nonprofits. It makes me feel like it’s all worthwhile when I can sign a check

and put it in the mail,” he said.

Water from

Wine has donated more than $230,000 to date to Seattle-based nonprofit Water1st

International, its biggest partner, although the nonprofit partners with

several nonprofits working in the water sector—mainly ones based on the West

Coast.

Ssenkubuge

audits the practices of nonprofits Water from Wine donates to to ensure they

are building sustainable water infrastructures in communities that will last.

“I love

knowing that they are not just going into communities and building a well or a

water system, and then leaving never to be seen again, but they really invest

their time in these communities and trust the local leadership to be involved,”

she said.

Water From

Wine sells wine direct-to-consumer only, either online and in its two tasting

rooms — one in Paterson and one in Leavenworth.

Because their

grapes only yield two types of wine, Ssenkubuge and Tucker sell other Tri-City

wines, including some white wines, as well as a variety of red wines, in their

tasting rooms.

While

Paterson Cellars is a licensed winery, they do not make wine themselves.

The

Leavenworth tasting room opened last summer — and Ssenkubuge said that business

is going well.

“We’re happy

with the way it’s going, but it would be great to just continue seeing more

sales happen there, and the more sales that happen, the more we can give away,”

she said.

The

Leavenworth tasting room has proven to be the busiest, as it is in a more

touristy area with other wineries offering tastings and can attract customers

from both the eastern and western parts of the state.

The Paterson

tasting room, connected to the actual vineyard, offers tastings by appointment.

Water from

Wine recently started a wine club that allows people to sign up for a

subscription service to pay a set price and receive three shipments throughout

the year.

For as low as

$50, the club memberships have discounts and tasting advantages. Ssenkubuge

said many members give their wine away as gifts, including those who aren’t

wine-drinkers themselves.

Currently all

the profits from the wines made with the Sandpiper vineyard grapes (the Horse

Heaven Hills cabernet sauvignon and the rosé) are donated to nonprofits, while

Water from Wine sales of other local wines in its stores and wine club packages

help offset operating costs.

For now,

Sandpiper Farms has taken on the overhead costs of maintaining the orchard, as

well as paying for wine production but Tucker hopes to shift that model into a

more self-supporting operation in the coming years.

He is looking

for companies or individuals to sponsor a row of his orchard for $3,000, which

is worth the price tag for the outcome.

Each row of

grapes yields about 40 cases of wine, which means the retail sale (and eventual

donation) is valued at about $14,400 per row.

“You’re

actually leveraging your donation by our efforts, marketing and volunteers and

other donations because I do expect to continue donating overhead and

staffing,” Tucker said.

Water from

Wine still is relatively small, due to the vineyard’s size and its current

model. Its wine is not sold in stores; it can only be bought online or in the

Paterson or Leavenworth tasting rooms. It does sell and ship wine through its

website to Washington, Oregon and California.

To volunteer for the harvest or learn more about Water from Wine and tasting times, go to waterfromwine.org.