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Home > What's New > Cigars For Charity
Cigars For Charity
Posted: Monday, November 03, 2003
By David Savona
(From Left to Right) Eric Newman, Hans H. Hertell, United States Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Mrs. Hertell, Carlos Fuente Jr. and Hugo Guiliani Cury, Dominican Republic Ambassador to the U.S. |
It's time to light up a Fuente for a very good cause. On November 22nd, the Fuente and Newman cigar families hope to have 5,000 cigar aficionados simultaneously light up, creating the world's largest cigar toast. The event aims to raise more than $250,000 for the children of El Caribe, where Fuente grows wrapper tobacco in the Dominican Republic.
"We wanted to see if we could help the children in the surrounding communities," said Eric M. Newman, president of the J.C. Newman Cigar Co. as he described the project at a recent lunch at New York City's Grand Havana Room. He held up photographs of children. "These are our kids. We're happy that cigars can be the catalyst to help make dreams come true."
Newman explained how he and Carlos Fuente Jr. were concerned by the poor living conditions in El Caribe. There is no running water, and people often have to walk two miles to a river, where the water was often murky. Only half of the local children go to school. "A lot of the children don't have much hope," said Newman.
The Fuentes and Newmans tried to help by donating to charities, but their gifts were refused, Newman said, due to the tobacco connection. So the families opted to create their own not-for-profit charity, dubbing it the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation. "If someone gives us $100, $100 is going to the Dominican Republic," said Newman. Administrative, legal, accounting and other costs are underwritten by the two families.
Carlos Fuente Jr. speaks to attendees at the Grand Havana Room. |
"It's not about cigars -- it's about the people," said Carlos Fuente Jr., president of Tabacalera A. Fuente ya Cia. Fuente described how he had been personally touched when two boxes of his cigars raised $40,000 at a Cigar Aficionado charity auction; he later embarked on a mission to help the poor children surrounding his Dominican tobacco farm, Chateau de la Fuente. "I am just a messenger," he said. "Tobacco is just the vehicle."
Here's how you can help the foundation: On November 22, more than 100 smoke shops will host the event, which will include entertainment, food, music and other features. For a $50 donation, each attendee will receive two commemorative cigars, which are commercially unavailable: a Fuente Fuente OpusX and a Diamond Crown Maximus, each measuring 6 1/2 inches long by 48. At 7 p.m., attendees will watch a DVD of Fuente Jr. raising his cigar in a toast to the people of the Dominican Republic, and will join along.
Since its creation in 2001, the Cigar Family charity has raised more than $450,000 via online cigar auctions and donations from cigar smokers and retailers. The foundation is developing a community complex that will include a school, medical facility, adult training center, a baseball field and more.
For more information on the event and the charity, go to www.cigarfamilycharitablefoundation.com.
Photos Courtesy of Enrico Barone. Also in Cigar News:
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