MENDOCINO CO., 8/27/26 — Charlene McAllister was director of nurses at Mendocino Coast District Hospital in the early 1980s when the hospital’s then-CEO decided the community needed a foundation to help support the hospital. He pulled together a group of about 25 residents, including McAllister’s late husband, A.D. Abramson, to serve on the board. Within the first year, board member Barbara Bessler, who had worked as a political fundraiser, pitched the idea for Winesong, an annual festival of Mendocino County wine with tastings, a silent auction and more. McAllister remembers the conversation happening in her own living room. She wasn’t convinced.
“In my foolishness, I said ‘Nah, it won’t work,’” McAllister said in an interview. “It obviously did work.”
McAllister, now 88, has never missed a Winesong and remains on the board of the Mendocino Coast Healthcare Foundation, the foundation behind Winesong.
That first Winesong raised money directly for the old Mendocino Coast Hospital Foundation and benefited the hospital specifically, with subsequent events doing the same. When Adventist signed a 30-year operation agreement with the hospital in 2020, the foundation rebranded as the Mendocino Coast Healthcare Foundation and expanded its scope to the whole healthcare district: Gualala to the south, Westport to the north and Comptche to the east. But those weren’t the only changes the foundation made. It also broadened to include a wider interpretation of what healthcare means.
Supporting community health can take many forms
“We’ve given money to the cancer resource center, we’ve set up food banks in all the little towns from Gualala to Westport —Comptche has a food bank,” said Winesong director Jonathan Darrow. “We’ve purchased equipment for volunteer fire departments, we just purchased AEDs for Westport Fire. We purchased defibrillators for Fort Bragg Police, because normally who’s the first to show up when you call 911? The police.”
Darrow also said the foundation is funding a local nonprofit focused on Narcan distribution and overdose awareness, working on a convalescent housing facility for patients who need somewhere to recover after treatment and building toward hospice care in the community. This year’s event is even going to have a live auction lot benefiting the Mendocino Coast Humane Society, which Darrow said the foundation considers healthcare because research shows that people with pets often have improved health.
Even the hospital’s medical equipment reflects the community-first spirit. Adventist may operate the hospital, but the equipment inside it belongs to Mendocino County residents.
“The hospital is still owned by our community, Adventist operates the hospital. We as the residents own the hospital, we own the equipment,” Darrow said. “If Adventist left tomorrow, all the equipment stays. It’s our stuff.”
This year’s goal is an EKG machine. Hospital use of EKGs rose 18% from 2024 to 2025, and the new equipment would join the CT scanner Winesong helped fund last year, another piece of medical equipment now owned by the community, set to be installed in December.
Multiplying dollars, multiplying aid
Winesong’s funding ability has grown dramatically over 41 years. The first Winesong in 1985 raised $8,000. Last year, the event raised $725,000, netting roughly $500,000 for the community after expenses. Over the past 41 years, the foundation has funneled more than $10.7 million into health and wellness projects across the coast.
That growth matters because the need hasn’t gotten any smaller. A drive to Santa Rosa or Ukiah for basic care takes over an hour, sometimes closer to three, depending on where on the coast someone lives, and recruiting providers willing to relocate to a small rural town is just as hard. Darrow said addressing those gaps is one of the foundation’s central goals.
The shortage goes beyond hospital staff. Darrow pointed to two young dentists who recently moved to Fort Bragg and bought a house. The two are already sponsoring local youth sports teams, a rare example of new providers choosing to put down roots on the coast. Most who come to a small rural town don’t stay long. Darrow said the foundation’s definition of healthcare has grown because the gaps go beyond the hospital, pointing to limited access to alternative medicine as one example.
Darrow said the challenges that often push families to leave the area rarely come down to just one thing. Families with young children often weigh leaving the coast altogether, not because of any single issue, but because healthcare, housing costs and long drives for basic services add up. The coast has no labor and delivery unit, so residents who want to give birth in a hospital or birthing center have to drive to Ukiah or Santa Rosa. McAllister, who spent decades in healthcare on the coast, said the hospital simply doesn’t see enough births to keep a labor and delivery unit going.
“It’s a problem when you want to have a baby and you live here, because we don’t have that resource,” she said. “You can’t have somebody giving birth here at the hospital when you only have a couple babies a month. That’s just not sufficient for the skills to be kept up.”
It’s not just young families struggling to get the care they need. McAllister said Mendocino County’s aging population is one of the biggest challenges facing local healthcare. A small hospital, she said, simply can’t be everything to everyone. Many residents need outpatient procedures but can’t get them without someone available to care for them afterward, and not everyone has that kind of support at home. The Cancer Resource Center has stepped in with rides to Ukiah for patients who need them, funded in part through a van the foundation recently helped pay for.
Despite those challenges, McAllister said she has no doubt Winesong has made a real difference. It’s a legacy she traces back to that living room conversation over four decades ago, and to Bessler, who has since passed away. Asked what she thinks Bessler would say if she could see what Winesong has become, McAllister said, “She would just smile and say, ‘I told you so.’”
A Pinot Celebration and the Grand Tasting
This year’s Grand Tasting takes place Sept. 12 at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, with more than 100 wine, beer, spirits and culinary vendors, including six breweries, six distilleries and a growing lineup of non-alcoholic options like mocktails, coffee, tea and CBD soda. The Pinot Noir Celebration kicks off the night before, on Sept. 11, at the Little River Inn. Organizers have also added games like a wine bottle ring toss and a photo booth, an effort Darrow said is aimed at drawing in younger locals alongside the event’s longtime supporters.
“Not only is this fun, but it also provides chances for microgiving,” Darrow said. “Not all of us are able to attend the live auction and bid that amount of money. But we can drop five or ten dollars to do a ring toss or get a Polaroid with our friends.”
Darrow said it’s a goal to bring in people in their 20s through 40s, as the event has historically skewed older. “All of us, in some way shape or form, are impacted by the money that is raised at this event,” he said.
Tickets range from $100 for a non-drinking pass to $250 for the auction lunch, with a 20% discount for locals. More information and tickets are available at winesong.org.