About the event
This elegant and fun-filled evening will feature notable wines from around the world, gourmet cuisine, and an exhilarating live auction that will surely have you at the edge of your seat.
– Cocktail attire
– Wegmans Conference Center
– Complimentary valet parking will be available for guests
– Auction – online bidding for silent auction lots will open on October 30, 2024. Registered guests with a mobile number on file will receive an automated text message when bidding opens. The link you receive is your personal bidding link. Please do not share with others.
– How online bidding works
– If you are unable to attend the event but are interested in bidding on silent or live auction lots, please contact URMCEvents@rochester.edu. Requests for non-attendee auction access are due by October 22, 2024
The Wine Spectator recognized the 2019 Toast To Your Health Wine Auction in their annual list of top charity wine events: America’s Top 13 Charity Wine Auctions Raised $44.1 Million in 2019
Proceeds to benefit
The David and Ilene Flaum Eye Institute and Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Rochester Medical Center
Funds raised at this year’s Wine Auction will benefit vision preservation and restoration initiatives at the David and Ilene Flaum Eye Institute and Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Rochester Medical Center. The Flaum Eye Institute (FEI) is the region’s leader in specialty eye care, committed to treating both common and complex vision problems. Over the last five years, FEI has nearly doubled its clinic locations from six to eleven sites, spanning from Batavia to Geneva. It now welcomes approximately 134,000 patients per year, a 54% increase in annual visits.
FEI is dedicated to community services that support access to care and ensure health equity in ophthalmology. Considering that one in five children fail their school eye screening exam each year, this community outreach is essential. Through our Vision Van program, we have screened more than 2,300 Rochester City school children—at no cost—in addition to distributing free glasses to all those in need. We are determined to double that number over the next two years.
Patients from around the world seek FEI’s expertise. We are the only provider in New York State outside of New York City to treat cancer of the eye in adults and children. Our pioneering research is leading to new discoveries, diagnostics, and treatments to help preserve and restore vision. With affordable gene therapy and stem cell transplantation, we are poised to reverse blindness in our community. Partnered with the world-renowned University of Rochester Institute of Optics and the Center for Visual Science, FEI is also developing laser technology to eliminate the need for reading glasses.
With a broad educational mission that encompasses all eye care subspecialties, FEI is training tomorrow’s ophthalmologists, scientists, and eye care professionals. With the goal of advancing surgical expertise, we are renovating our resident surgical training lab by adding state-of-the-art simulators and operating room quality equipment. These upgrades will allow residents to strengthen their skills in a simulation environment before they get to the operating room.
The Flaum Eye Institute is home to some of the most influential vision researchers and educators in the world and aims to increase our endowed faculty positions to elevate our global institutional reputation, help recruit highly sought-after leaders in ophthalmology, and honor current exceptional faculty to keep them in Rochester.
Your contribution to the Flaum Eye Institute is not only advancing world-class vision research and supporting the advanced education of experts in vision care, it is bringing hope to many deserving members of our community and the Upstate New York region—to preserve and restore their vision.
