An open note to the lady from last night:

Dear lady whom tried to hold a fundraiser for money to help cancer,

If you call a local wine bar, and ask them to open on a Monday night when they aren't usually open, please bring some people. The owner doesn't know you. When you prey on his kindness by saying that 80-100 people are going to show, he will probably believe you. It is because of this kindness that he will give you the space, as well as the reputation of his bar, for FREE. When you say that you have lots of friends that are really into wine, and want to donate money to your cause, he will believe you again. He will then pass this information on to his local wine distributor, whom will also believe you. The bar owner will spend his day off preparing and cleaning the space for you, using his electricity and gas to make the room comfortable for you. The distributor will donate bottles of wine to open and pour, spending his sample budgets for you. Then, when you only have two people show up (one of whom walked in off the street), it pisses everyone involved off. You see, now the bar owner will be much less likely to hold events for people who are legitimate in their efforts. The distributor will also be less likely to donate wine for such events. I do appreciate the fact that 5 bottles of wine were sold, but we opened six bottles for you. Money was not made by the bar, nor raised by you. Plenty of time, resources, and good will were wasted though.
You asked for suggestions on what to do next time. Here are a few-
1. Call your friends and family. If they like you, they will support your event.
2. Don't make signs with permanent marker and posterboard, because your handwriting sucks and the signs look ridiculous
3. Ask for people to RSVP- maybe even take their entry fee/donation ahead of time
4. Crackers, cheese, and summer sausage do not count as "appetizers"
5. Have good stuff for your raffle- books that not even you have heard of and an invitation to a time share presentation good prizes do not make.
6. When promoting your event, look into the type of people you want to draw. If you want folks to come to a wine tasting, maybe promote it on a local wine website. Just sayin'.
7. Don't ever ask for the bar owner's or my help again. This may sound rude, but you had him come in on his night off, leaving his 7-month pregnant wife at home, so you could come drink free wine samples with your husband. You will get laughed at, and probably talked about behind your back.

Sorry for the negative tone of this post today. I'm tired and grumpy, and my shirt doesn't fit very well.

Go drink some wine!

Cheers.