BAKERSFIELD, Calif — A local Facebook group is focused on pouring love in the community called, Wine A Sistah Up.
The goal is to provide a safe gifting and supportive environment for African-American women in Kern County.
With nearly 2,000 members in the Facebook group and only being active for a month, Wine A Sistah Up is gaining momentum.
The founders of the group are Bianca Haynes and Danielle Simmons.
They say the purpose is to bring African American women in Bakersfield together through positivity, fellowship, and gifting wine baskets.
"We were a part of another group here locally and we saw the need for a connection to be made between the African-American women in this community," said Bianca Haynes, co-founder of Wine A Sistah Up.
"So we decided to start a group that’s not exclusive but very inclusive, for us. It's somewhere that we could feel welcomed at all times."
To join you must be 21 and have African American ethnicity.
"Women can join and then they create a profile about themselves and add a little description with things that they like," Haynes said.
"Then they put their address at the bottom of the group and at any point in time one of the sistahs in this group can deliver a beautiful wine basket to your front door."
If one isn't comfortable with putting their address, they can put their zip code and add DM for the address.
The creation of the group is influenced by the unrest, conversations, and protest about police brutality happening around the country.
"The climate right now is hot and we angry, sad, hurt and we can’t always build ourselves up," Haynes said. "So sometimes we need a helping hand from a sister to come and help build us up."
The two Wine A Sistah up founders say the group has handed out close to 1,000 baskets.
Now, every day women of Kern County are getting wined.
The homemade baskets come in all varieties and themes.
Many filled with words of encouragement, candies, snacks, and wine.
Their goal is to turn the active gift-giving Facebook group into a bustling group that gives back to their community.
Already the group will be hosting a pop-up shop/backpack drive giveaway on July 19.
"We will do a backpack drive and Wine A Sistah Up will supply all the backpacks, with hand sanitizers, mask, and all back to school supplies that you need," Simmons said.
The duo shares they are incorporating black-owned businesses to their gift baskets, like black-owned wines.
The group is hoping to inspire others to continue to pay it forward.
"I think everybody should love it and maybe other people should join," said Berry Newman, a volunteer. "Men should do something similar to help other men out there because you never know men can be going through some hard times too."
