Wine and a positive atmosphere flowed freely on Sunday afternoon. The West End Food Pantry held its first Stomp Out Hunger 5K and Fun Run on Sunday in collaboration with the Blue Ridge Estate Winery and Vineyards.

The run was held to raise awareness of hunger in the local area and the director of the West End Food Pantry Karena Thek is hopeful that this event did raise money."It's hard to estimate the dollars and cents right now, but I think we'll be in the positive for today's event," Thek said.The event is especially crucial this time of year as food pantries are always busy during the winter months. Nov. 5 was the West End Food Pantry's biggest day, Thek said. They helped approximately 750 people.The 5K and fun run together had more than 200 people registered. The organization had many volunteers helping at the event."Considering this is their first race, it is very well-organized and everyone is in good spirits," said David Pellot after running the 5K. "The sips on the road were great, as well. Great setting and great weather."Runners and walkers were offered wine and water as they ran through the vineyard, cornfield and woods.Blue Ridge Estate Winery and Vineyards was excited to help out a community organization. The winery had to create the paths through the woods and vineyards for the races."We started with a general path through the vineyard," said Dan Detrick, a winemaker at the vineyard. "We got a backhoe out. The path through the woods used to be an old carriage trail, but it was overgrown."The winery also looks forward to future events with the West End Food Pantry."The pantry is a great organization," Detrick said. "This was a unique way to give back to the community."Racers received a T-shirt and wineglass with a wine tasting, the latter if the participant is over 21.Thek hopes to make this an annual event."The winery has been amazing to work with," Thek said. "They were excited to be involved."The West End Food Pantry is also having an event called Santa is Clear for Landing on Nov. 26. The event is free and will be at Polk Township Firehouse. Santa will be arriving by helicopter at 2 p.m. Rudolph, the Grinch and Frosty will also be at the event.