2022 SRW Foundation Gala
Silk Road Wines (SRW) Foundation, based in Orlando, Florida, was born out of love of philanthropy and wine. It was founded by Yanick Arakelov, who served 4 years of active duty and continues to serve as a Major in the U.S. Army Reserves. His partner, Barry Greer, served as a Firefighter-Paramedic for 15 years.
At the beginning of 2020, before establishing the Silk Road Wines Foundation Yanick and Barry co-founded the Georgian wine brand, Silk Road Wines. It is a type of wine that people fall in love with upon first taste. One of their proudest distinctions was their dedication to charitable work. They became a proud partner to both Stephen Siller’s Tunnels to Towers Foundation and the Wounded Warriors Support Foundation – Republic of Georgia. These charities were close to the heart of the brand, aiming to help the heroes who have given so much for the country.
The love of wine was a great way to bring people together to help support their mission thus the Silk Road Wines Foundation was born. The goal of the foundation is to honor the military, first responders, and brothers-in-arms who continue to make the supreme sacrifice for our freedom. 100% of proceeds collected through Silk Road Wines Foundation go to charity.
Foundation members visit facilities and treatment centers to ensure that these heroes are receiving the best quality care. When possible, they make sure the proceeds are going toward local families in need.
Unlike some other crowdfunding platforms, the mission of the foundation is to help nonprofits and donors have more impact, not to make a profit.
The foundation also supports Georgian veterans, as Georgia was a U.S. ally in the war against terror and the third largest troop contributor in the Iraq War, and represented the largest per-capita contributor to the U.S.-led mission in Afghanistan. Thousands of Georgian soldiers put their lives on the line to help support our country. Unfortunately, most of their wounded veterans are left helpless as they do not have access to the same treatment that our country can provide. We believe they deserve our support to honor their courage and sacrifice for our freedom.
On the 20th anniversary of 9/11, SRW foundation held its first Wine for Warriors Gala to raise money in honor of the first responders, in NY and everywhere, who risked their lives to save others as well as our military which quickly sprung into action to prevent further attacks. To commemorate their actions and support their legacy, the foundation successfully raised over $50K to support veterans and first responders in need of physical and emotional support.
Part of the amounts raised during the gala was donated to the Wounded Warrior Support Foundation. Co-founders of the company personally granted this donation to the fund during their visit to Tbilisi when they attended the traditional New Year charity gala of the Wounded Warrior Support Foundation.
Silk Road Wines Foundation has kindly intended to share part of donations from this year as well. The recent charity event gathered representatives of different spheres of society across the state as well as business, local authorities, the Ambassador of Georgia in the US, co-founder of WWSF – Paata Patiashvili, representatives of the Georgian Embassy and the Ministry of Defense of Georgia.
Ambassador David Zalkaliani made a phenomenal speech. He highlighted the substantial contributions of Georgian military personnel to international peace and security missions and thanked the American partners for appreciating the sacrifice of Georgian heroes.