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Festival co-chairs Paul and Barbie Hills. Credit: WINK News. Naples Winter Wine Festival 2020 is underway, and it’s all in effort to benefit children in our region. Guests will have a chance to spend money, all to help children in Southwest Florida. To end the week, those in attendance enjoyed lavish dinners and each other’s company. Festival co-chairs Paul and Barbie Hills have been involved in the Naples Winter Wine since 2013 and hosted a party ahead of the main event. “The people that are here are unbelievable people,” Barbie said. Twenty different dinner parties got underway throughout Collier County Friday night to kick off the weekend ahead of Naples Winter Wine Festival hosted at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort in North Naples. The Hills say the parties are fun, but that’s not why they stay involved. “It helps us invest in the community and help 275,000 children,” Barbie said. “And there is nothing better than lifting children out of poverty.” The Naples Children & Education Foundation has seven different initiatives to help spread the funds to all those children. “It’s hunger. Because I’m always hungry, and I relate to that” Paul said. “And these children, if you are hungry, it’s hard to study and hard to be active, so food is the fuel our body’s need.” Barbie has a special love for one particular initiative through the annual festival. “Every child who needs glasses gets two pairs, one for home and one for school,” Barbie said. “And you can’t study without being able to see what you’re looking at.” The goal for Naples Winter Wine Festival 2020 is to raise $200 million. The goal for Naples Winter Wine Festival 2020 is to raise $200 million. A big chunk of that will be raised tomorrow at the Ritz-Carlton during a live auction. We caught up with the British auctioneer, who is returning to lead the bidding in his nineteenth year at the wine fest. And Paul said there is one thing that helps people keep wanting to give each year. “The secret sauce is we fund 45 charities in Naples Florida,” Paul said.