Volunteer Archives - OCWS https://ocws.org/category/volunteer/ Sat, 28 Mar 2026 01:04:04 +0000 en-US hourly 1 The Courtyard Sign-ups Begin This Month https://ocws.org/the-courtyard-sign-ups-begin-this-month/ Sat, 28 Mar 2026 01:04:02 +0000 https://ocws.org/?p=82766 Ensure that your mailing address (OCWS website, My Profile) we have on file is correct to receive Courtyard information and fair credentials. A Responsible Beverage Server (RBS) Certification is required […]

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]]> Ensure that your mailing address (OCWS website, My Profile) we have on file is correct to receive Courtyard information and fair credentials. A Responsible Beverage Server (RBS) Certification is required to sign up and work at The Courtyard. Please make sure your RBS certification is completed before sign-ups start so you can be confirmed for […]

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]]> President’s Message https://ocws.org/presidents-message-72/ Thu, 26 Feb 2026 19:12:00 +0000 https://ocws.org/?p=82034 By Fred Heinecke The 50th annual Orange County Fair Commercial Wine Competition is fast approaching. This marquee event is put on by us, the Orange County Wine Society. The judging […]

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]]> By Fred Heinecke

The 50th annual Orange County Fair Commercial Wine Competition is fast approaching. This marquee event is put on by us, the Orange County Wine Society. The judging will be held May 30and 31 at the Costa Mesa Hilton. Many members volunteer for this huge event that will feature around 2,500 entries with about 100 wine professional judges in panels of five to taste the entries.

There are miles and miles of effort that goes into the logistics of this behemoth event. But the real magic is how all the entries show up in brown paper bags just in the right box and in the right order for the correct judging panel.

The footwork for this near impossible outcome is done by the cataloging crew, headed by Teri and John Lane with past crew chiefs Liz and Lloyd Corbett. The wineries enter their wines online and then ship the entries to the OCWS office. There is no fee to enter; the wineries only need to ship six bottles (yes, you counted right, that is 15,000 bottles of wine to deal with).

The cataloging crew labels each of the six bottles with the correct entry category and a letter A-F. This means, for example, they must know if the 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 5% Malbec goes in as a Cabernet Sauvignon varietal or as a Meritage (this may take a telephone call to the winemaker to confirm their desired category). After the wines are labeled, they are sent to a correctly numbered and lettered box for temporary storage. The A and B boxes are the boxes for the Commercial Wine Competition. The A boxes are for serving the tastes to the judges and the B boxes are transported to the hotel to be available if a bottle has a fault such as a bad cork. Each year we use a handful of the B bottles.

All the boxes are double checked to confirm all the bottles are in the correct box. With the help of the Commercial Competition computer program, the pouring orders are set up with varietals and residual sugar content and new box labels are printed.

During the week before the competition volunteer crews place the 2,500 or so bottles into the labeled paper bags and get them into their final box that is labeled with the panel number and the day it will be served. On Friday, the 5,000 A and B bottles are transported to the hotel and end up on the correct steward table.

If you want to have some fun, meet other members and interesting wine makers and be amazed how it all comes together, volunteer for the 50th annual Commercial Wine Competition.

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]]> Commercial Competition Volunteers https://ocws.org/commercial-competition-volunteers-2/ Sun, 25 Feb 2024 04:15:25 +0000 https://ocws.org/?p=66158 We are headed toward the 47th Commercial Competition this year and you should see the signups on our website in March, any day now. Boy this year has gone fast! […]

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]]> We are headed toward the 47th Commercial Competition this year and you should see the signups on our website in March, any day now. Boy this year has gone fast! We understand that these are changing times and conditions, please be flexible, and we can work together to make this another fun event. There are […]

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]]> Volunteers Who Made a Difference This Year https://ocws.org/volunteers-who-made-a-difference-this-year/ Mon, 23 Oct 2023 18:29:39 +0000 https://ocws.org/?p=63774 The OCWS relies on our volunteers for everything from guiding and managing our organization to planning and running our events. Most volunteer work is done “behind the scenes” and unnoticed […]

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]]> The OCWS relies on our volunteers for everything from guiding and managing our organization to planning and
running our events. Most volunteer work is done “behind the scenes” and unnoticed by many. In recognition of
their hours of service, the Wine Society rewards our volunteers with store credit, redeemable for admission to OCWS
events. The credit, which is available on your “My Account” page, will be good until Oct. 1, 2024.
The credit may not be used for membership renewal or to purchase merchandise. Our volunteers make this the
successful organization that it is. We couldn’t exist without our volunteers! We encourage you to get involved. It is
a great way to see how the organization works and meet fellow members. Thank you to the following volunteers for
their efforts during the 2022-2023 year.

—Rochelle Randel,
Business Administrator

$50 Credit

Chris Bruce
Hank Bruce
Jim Burk
Damian Christian
Liz Corbett
Lloyd Corbett
Kevin Coy
Maria Coy
Lynda Edwards
Wendy Eld
Sue England
Yale Finkle
Carol Frank
Jane Goodnight
Larry Graham
Scott Green
Greg Hagadorn
Kelly Haggard
Leslie Hodowanec
Helga Hrowal
Mike Iglesias
Virginia Kawai
Cheryl Knapp
Ken Knapp
Theresa Lane
Kevin Lite
John Molina
Mary Mulcahey
Betty Jo Newell
Jay Newell
Marcy Ott
George Ott
Cathy Painter
Lee Painter
Maia Pehrson
Don Phillips
Alice Polser
Glenn Polser
Bruce Powers
Sam Puzzo
Rochelle Randel
Bill Redding
Carolyn Redding
Ed Reyes
Janet Riordan
Greg Risling
Cathy Risling
Peter Schlundt-Bodien
Dave Stancil
Tami Stancil
Robyn Strom
Dean Strom
Stacey Taylor
Wendy Taylor
Bob Topham
Daniel Vlahovic
Richard Ward
Dave White
Sara Yeoman
Courtney

$25 Credit

Dino Amico
Greg Basille
Dawn Bergen-Iglesias
Leslie Brown
Pam Carter
Anna Christie
Adrienne Davis
Ray Davis
Sharon Finkle
Ellen Flynn
Gloria Franklin
Lorriane Hammonds
Cheryl Heinecke
Will Holsinger
Lynelle Hustrulid
Michael Johnson
Karl Kawai
Michael Koval
Kathy Krieger
Ellie Phillips
Laurie Preuss
Roger Reiss
Walter Reiss
Debbie Renne
Terry Rose
Craig Rowe
Ronna Rowe
Scott Sayre
Tricia Shelton
Linda Shepard
Jack Shepard
Tom Tippett
Deborah Webber
Barbara White
Tony Wieczorek
Jolen Zeroski

$10 Credit

Adrienne Amico
Zach Anderson
Shilo Bartlett
Brigit Beaudette
Mike Beaudette
Laura Brown
Judy Chapel
Eva Cheung
Shelley Cohen
Louis Cohen
Chris Danoff
Stephanie Djang
Dan Donati
Liane Donati
Kate English
Charles English
Carol Esslinger
Claude Fusaro
Kathy Fusaro
Bonnie Gausewitz
Bev Genis
Alison Godleski
Mark Godleski
Kay Gooding
John Goodnight
Jerry Guerin
Maryetta Hall
Scott Harral
Donna Hisey
Shelly Jayne
CL Keedy
Jim Kerins
Laurie Kjar-Reiss
Roxanne Korzeniowski
Shannon Logsdon
Alicia Lopez
Mike MacKenzie
Cathy MacKenzie
Don Mayer
Robin McCormick
John Nation
Cyndi Nelson
Alison Painter
Mike Paz
Janet Peal
Dorothy Pemberton
David Price
Stephanie Richards
Kim Rizzuto
Steven Rizzuto
Manny Robledo
Denise Scandura
John Scandura
Denise Scott
Irene Scott
Raul Serna
JoBeth Skaggs
Chris Snyder
Robert Soule
Jodi Theissen
Mark Theissen
Darwin Thompson
Evelyn Thompson
Nicole Tormey
Nancy Unterreiner
Gerard Unterreiner
Sharone Vearrier
Michael Webber
Dave Wiegand
Elena Yuasa

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]]> Attention Commercial Competition Volunteers! https://ocws.org/attention-commercial-competition-volunteers/ Thu, 23 Feb 2023 03:18:30 +0000 https://ocws.org/?p=58701 We are headed toward the 47th Commercial Wine Competition this year. Signups will be on our website this month, so look for them any day now. Boy this year has […]

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]]> We are headed toward the 47th Commercial Wine Competition this year. Signups will be on our website this month, so look for them any day now. Boy this year has gone fast! We understand that these are changing times and conditions, so we ask that you please be flexible so we can work together to […]

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]]> Volunteers that Made a Difference https://ocws.org/volunteers-that-made-a-difference/ Fri, 23 Sep 2022 00:16:36 +0000 https://ocws.org/?p=55528 The OCWS relies on our volunteers for everything from guiding and managing our organization, to planning and running our events. Most volunteer work is done “behind the scenes” and unnoticed […]

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]]> The OCWS relies on our volunteers for everything from guiding and managing our organization, to planning and running our events. Most volunteer work is done “behind the scenes” and unnoticed by many.

In recognition of their hours of service, the Wine Society rewards its volunteers with gift certificates redeemable for admission to OCWS events. Thank you to the following volunteers for their efforts during the 2021-2022 Board year.

Our volunteers make this the successful organization that it is. We encourage you to get involved. It is a great way to see how the OCWS works and meet new friends.

THANK YOU!  We couldn’t exist without our volunteers!

Some statistics: 343 members volunteered this year, and put in a total of over 19,200 hours. Note: The volunteer coupons will be good for future events through October 1, 2023.

Coupons cannot be used on merchandise or membership renewals. The coupons should show up in your account by the end of September.

– George Cravens, Volunteer Coordinator

$50 Discount Coupon

Dawn Bergen-Iglesias

Leslie Brown

Chris & Hank Bruce

Pam Carter

Judy Chapel

Ms. Courtney

Damian Christian

Kim & Sam Clark

Liz & Lloyd Corbett

Kevin Coy

Lynda Edwards

Wendy Eld

Sue England

George Euan

Linda Flemins

Ellen Flynn

Bill Forsch

Carol Frank & Sam Puzzo

Jane Goodnight

Larry Graham

Greg Hagadorn

Scott Harral

Cheryl Heinecke

Leslie Hodowanec

Helga Hrowal

Michael Iglesias

Michael Johnson

Virginia & Karl Kawai

Cheryl & Ken Knapp

Theresa & John Lane

Kevin Lite

Betty Jo & Jay Newell

Marcy Ott

Cathy & Lee Painter

Alice Polser

Bruce Powers

Rochelle Randel

Carolyn & Bill Redding

Walter Reiss

Ed Reyes

Janet Riordan

Greg Risling

Rob Romano

Craig Rowe

Karen Russell

Scott Sayre

Peter Schlundt-Bodien

Jack & Linda Shepard

Dave & Tami Stancil

Robyn & Dean Strom

Wendy & Stacey Taylor

Tom Tippett

Bob Topham

Richard Ward

Barb & Dave White

Sara Yeoman

$25 Discount Coupon

Martin Ageson

April Allison

Dino Amico

Greg Basile

Laura Brown

Eva Cheung

Adrienne & Ray Davis

Dan Donati

Stephen Edwards

Sharon & Yale Finkle

Kathy & Claude Fusaro

Beverly Genis

Mark Godleski

Kay Gooding

Kelly Haggard

Lorraine Hammonds

Donna Hisey

Will Holsinger

Lynelle Hustrulid

Shelly Jayne

Cathy & Mike MacKenzie

Sue McDonald

John Molina

Mary Mulcahey

Kathryn Nalty

George Ott

Mike Paz

Craig Peterson

Don & Elee Phillips

Laurie Preus

Debbie Renne

Deborah Reynolds

Stephanie Richards

Ronna Rowe

Denise Scott

Shelly Trainor

Gerard & Nancy Unterreiner

Jean Vetri-Wilson

Daniel Vlahovic

Dave Wieczorek

Tony Wiegand

Jolen Zeroski

$10 Discount Coupon

Shilo & Ray Bartlett

Christine Brady

James Burk

Anna & Thomas Christie

Shelley & Louis Cohen

Art Cordts

Maria Coy

Dennis & Gloria DeRosia

Nancy Edwards

Charles & Kate English

Tina & B.J. Fornadley

Ellen & Jack Gaar

Allison Godleski

John Goodnight

Scott Green

Kim & Gerry Guerin

Robert Hall

Patty Hansen

Laurie & James Johnson

CL Keedy

Michael Koval

Kathy Krieger

Shannon Logsdon

Mary Ellen & Carl Manning

Monica McCarthy

Robin McCormick

John Nation

Pam Oneida

Alison Painter

Maia Pehrson

Dorthy Pemberton

Eric Perez

Lisa & Tom Peterson

Ken Polser

Jane Ptucha

Roger Reiss

Tom Richey

Jean Rico

Cathy Risling

Kim & Steven Rizzuto

Manny Robledo

Wilton Roddy

Terry Rose

David Rutledge

Irene & Ken Scott

Irene & Raul Serna

Lori Shapiro

Yolanda Shelton

Scott Shuster

Elizabeth & Craig Stark

Jody & Mike Theissen

Evelyn & Darwin Thompson

Nicole Tormey

Deborah & Michael Webber

Spencer Wilson

Amie Zeroski

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