Wine Tasting and Barbecue Fundraiser for Liam Houck

Among the businesses helping to raise funds for a Ramona toddler who needs an emergency kidney transplant is .

On Saturday, owner Jennifer Jenkin will host a barbecue and wine tasting at her for 16-month-old Liam Houck.

, the son of Reid and Vanessa Houck, has been diagnosed with End Stage Renal Failure due to a rare disorder and needs the transplant as soon as possible. Reid is a Marine captain at MCAS Miramar and Vanessa separated from the Air Force to take care of Liam. The military couple needs help raising money for expenses not covered by medical insurance. The goal is $125,000 and $103,403.45 has been raised as of Aug. 25. Donation boxes are also located at and on Main Street.

The Pamo Valley Winery fundraiser for the Ramona couple will be from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday. There'll be a tractor show and barbecue in the parking lot. Proceeds from the barbecue and all tips from wine tasting will go to help Liam. Opportunity drawings will be held. For more information, call 760-271-3090.

Update from Liam's mother:

Vanessa writes—Liam is doing great, we are going through workups right now.  It's a 4-6 month process, so he should get a new kidney around Christmas.  No donor has been selected yet...my husband and I are getting screened right now to see if we're a match.  If not, we'll move on to other potential donors.  Liam's COTA fundraiser is at $103,403.45 right now, so it's going very well!  

As for our medical benefits, there's a blog entry at www.cotaforliamh.com titled "Answer to why Liam's insurance isn't covering all his medical care".  Liam has TriCare, as well as the extended health option, and Medicare.  The blog entry goes into detail about what's not covered and why