MSU Billings Wine & Food Festival
In 1993, a very different fundraising event for the Billings area was introduced — the Eastern Montana College Wine Festival. Festival organizers gathered all the right ingredients for the creation of a long-term event: energetic and enthusiastic volunteers; significant community support from partners, sponsors and guests; and a worthy cause – Eastern Montana College (now MSU Billings). The week-long extravaganza is filled with fabulous wine, sumptuous food, and mind-expanding educational opportunities conducted by nationally known chefs and wine experts. Now known as the MSU Billings Foundation Wine & Food Festival, the event is instrumental in raising scholarship dollars to fulfill the needs of students. The first scholarships were awarded in academic year 1999-2000.
Impact
“I am very grateful and humbled to be a recipient of the Wine & Food Festival Scholarship through the MSU Billings Foundation. I am a Pre-Med/Biology major with a minor in chemistry. My goal is to complete my undergraduate degree here and then go to medical school in the western U.S. Thanks to you, I am one step closer to that goal. By awarding this scholarship, you have lightened my financial burden, which allows me to focus more on my studies. I hope one day I will also be able to help students who are struggling to reach their goals in higher education by assisting them in the same way you are helping me. Thank you again for the generous support.” — Eriska F., Biology and Pre-Professional Medicine major