After everything is paid for — 5,000 logo glasses, 36,000 square-feet of tenting, 25 million in general liability insurance and every plane ticket, hotel room and sous vide lamb chop is reimbursed — the Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta barely breaks even. After 20 years, that's still the intent for a restaurant marketing event that fills every hotel and every restaurant seat in Santa Fe during the last weekend of September.

However, there is fundraising activity during the SFWC Fiesta — the pair of auctions held at the Eldorado hotel Sept. 24. Proceeds from both the Live Auction Luncheon and the Reserve Tasting & Silent Auction help raise funds for the Santa Fe Wine & Chile Foundation, a nonprofit that funds culinary programs for Santa Fe students, including Santa Fe's Cooking with Kids

Cooking with Kids began in 1995 as an outgrowth of a student-nutrition advisory council's work to improve school meals. The objectives are that elementary-school children will explore a variety of healthful foods from diverse cultures, acquire practical food-preparation skills, work cooperatively and connect classroom learning with school meals. The program reaches 4,400 elementary-school students in 12 public schools in Santa Fe, which has a district-wide average of 65 percent of students qualified to receive free or reduced-price school meals. Eleven hours of cooking classes are delivered by trained Cooking with Kids food educators, including some of Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta's participating chefs — Tom Kerpon of Rio Chama, Martin Rios, Fernando Olea of Epazote and Kim Mueller of Real Food Nation.

Adults who like fine wine and appreciate good food can help fund this program by participating with the SFWC Fiesta events Sept. 24. At the Live Auction Luncheon, guests can bid on items such as a trip for two to Tuscany with roundtrip airfare and four nights at the beautiful winery Castiglione del Bosco in Montalcino. Another lot under the gavel of David Reynolds, one of the country's leading charitable auctioneers, is a Dinner of a Lifetime for eight guests in the winning bidder's home, hosted by guest chef Mark Kiffin of The Compound Restaurant and featuring rare wines such as 1959 and 1982 Cháteau Lafite. Or, if Napa is on your radar to visit, one could hardly do better than to bid on a wine tour package for four that includes overnights at Calistoga Ranch and tours and tastings at Heitz Wine Cellars, Plumpjack and Silver Oak. These, and other lots, are items that simply are unavailable to purchase anywhere other than at auction.

The meal at this year's Live Auction Luncheon features five guest chefs and some top wines. Champagne Ruinart, from this year's SFWC Champagne sponsor, will be poured during the reception with canapés from guest chef Jennifer Jasinski from Denver's most celebrated restaurant, Rioja. The rest of the meal will feature wines from this year's honorary winery of the year, Spottswoode Estate in Napa.

Owners Mary Novak and her daughter Beth Novak-Milliken, who just hosted the Napa Valley Wine Auction in June that raised $8.5 million, will be in attendance to introduce their wines and receive an award from SFWC in honor of their 30 years of qualitative leadership in Napa Valley. Their Spottswoode Estate Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley is recognized as the elegant equivalent of the first growth Cháteau Margaux in Bordeaux.

Sure to be one of the top auction lots, Mary and Beth have donated a six-magnum vertical of their Spottswoode Estate Cabernet Sauvignon along with a VIP tour and tasting for six at their Napa Valley winery, including a private dinner in their home.

Other guest pairing courses at the luncheon during the Live Auction are Janos Wilder, of Janos in Tuscon, who will serve one of his famous ceviches with Spottswoode Sauvignon Blanc; Mark Kiffin of the Compound preparing one of his signature dishes with 2006 Spottswoode Estate Cabernet; Tony Smith of the Eldorado plating beef tenderloin with 2000 Spottswoode Estate Cabernet and Laura Werlin of San Francisco fashioning an artisanal cheese plate with Spottswoode Lyndenhurst Cabernet Sauvignon.

Later in the afternoon at the Reserve Tasting and Silent Auction, the 90 SFWC Fiesta participating restaurants, including Spottswoode, will be pouring their best wines of the week. During the tasting, guests can bid on 50 silent auction wine lots that feature rare and large format wines, such as a 12-bottle case of single vineyard pinot noirs from Richard Sanford's Alma Rosa winery in Santa Barbara's Santa Rita Hills; a magnum of Domaine Serene's rare Monogram wine from vineyards in Willamette Valley; a six-bottle case of library reserve 2001 Heitz Trailside Cabernet Sauvignon and a six-magnum vertical of Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel wine from Paso Robles.

Should you be one of the lucky bidders opening one of these special wines or visiting one of these special places, you can be happy to know that your contribution is going to a worthy cause.

Greg O'Byrne is executive director of the Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta. His column appears in Taste on the third Wednesday of every month. Questions or comments? Write to vinevents@aol.com.