CHARITABLE PARTNERS

Proceeds from Charlotte Wine + Food events benefit strategically selected charity partners that support children and their families in the Charlotte community. The charity beneficiaries for the 2025 - 2026 fiscal are: Beds for Kids, Digi-Bridge, Families Forward Charlotte, and Wayfinders.

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR CHARITABLE MISSION BELOW!

Beds for Kids provides beds and essential furniture to children and families in need. They come alongside families who are rising out of poverty and moving toward self-sufficiency, supplying the furniture resources they need to build a stable home.

Many of the families they serve are transitioning out of homelessness, leaving domestic abuse situations, securing stable employment, or signing their first lease. Beds for Kids believes every child deserves a bed of their own and strives to serve each family with dignity and respect.

In 2024, Beds for Kids served 1,406 Charlotte families—helping turn their houses into homes with beds and furniture that provide comfort, stability, and hope.

Founded in 2014, Digi-Bridge is dedicated to sparking interest and persistence in STEAM learning, ensuring that students in underrepresented communities gain the access, opportunities, and skills needed to thrive in a rapidly evolving world. Through continuous, equitable programming at Title 1 schools, students engage in skill-building critical to success in the modern workforce. These programs are delivered during vulnerable after-school hours, matching scholars with trained educators and STEAM professionals in safe, supportive environments. Digi-Bridge operates on a community-based model, building with, not for, the communities it serves.

With STEM jobs projected to grow nearly 10% by 2029 and offering competitive wages, Digi-Bridge addresses the stark underrepresentation of historically underserved populations in these fields. Too many students in our community still lack access to quality STEAM education, leaving them unprepared for post-secondary life and perpetuating generational poverty. By focusing on early educational gains, college and career readiness, and hands-on experiences, Digi-Bridge equips scholars with the tools to pursue successful futures, whatever pathways they choose.

Families Forward Charlotte partners with families experiencing poverty to achieve lasting economic stability. They meet families where they are, helping them overcome barriers such as job loss, lack of affordable housing, or childcare challenges. Through educational opportunities, essential support, and individualized mentoring, they provide the tools and relationships needed to build a strong foundation for the future. By fostering long-term connections and empowering families with life skills and resources, they work to break the cycle of multigenerational poverty in Charlotte and create pathways to a self-sustaining future.

At present, Families Forward is serving around 100 families including nearly 300 children annually.

Wayfinders’ MISSION is to ignite students’ potential by expanding their confidence, connections, and horizons. Their unique model combines guidance from an adult mentor with attendance at confidence-building summer camps, participation in year-round enrichment programming, and a focus on college and career readiness for self-motivated, underserved students. Their VISION is that every child, regardless of zip code, has access to these transformative life experiences.

The Wayfinders program provides services to under-resourced students starting in 4th grade through high school graduation at no cost to their families. Initially, scholars spend three summers at nature camps where they try activities like kayaking, horseback riding, and rock climbing that build confidence and help them develop new skills. Once in middle and high school, scholars shift to academic camps on college campuses and are provided with leadership development, career exploration, and job-shadowing opportunities that help them transition from middle school to high school, and then to college and career. Throughout the school year, scholars participate in enrichment programs such as outdoor recreation, arts and cultural experiences, technology workshops, financial planning education, employer visits, and community service. Each scholar is supported by a dedicated adult mentor who helps prepare them for camp and guides them from 4th grade to high school graduation and beyond. Through each of these experiences, Wayfinders provides under-resourced families with valuable exchanges of social capital and expanded opportunities for economic mobility.