What an Amazing Unity 5K
We’re just over two months since the conclusion of the Unity 5K we held in partnership with our friends at Together We Stand NC, on July 17th! If you recall, the Unity 5K was held to continue the conversation surrounding the inequities people of color face in this country. We felt like August’s blog post would be a great way to tie a bow on such a wonderful event! We can’t begin to tell you how full our hearts were and continue to be after hosting our very first 5K race. Between the turnout, conversations had, money raised, great atmosphere, and community togetherness, we couldn’t have asked for a better day! I’m going to walk you through it, and what it meant to us. So sit back, crack open a crispy Oktoberfest, and read on! If you don’t have any Oktoberfest, then what the hell are you waiting for? Head over to our web shop, order some RIGHT NOW, pick it up, and then continue reading on! We kid… kind of.
We Can’t Thank You Enough
As we stood on our patio to address over fifty Unity 5K participants with Neighborhood Hope & Fleet Feet Charlotte, it was absolutely amazing to see such a happy, welcoming and diverse group of runners ready to get after it for a good cause! There were so many familiar faces we see on a weekly basis at our run club, Run DBB, as well as plenty of new faces ready to join in on the conversation and fun! We had a total of 55 runners sign up for the event, which is by far the biggest turnout we’ve ever had for a single run. It’s been even more rewarding to see some of those very same runners who joined us for the first time at the event on July 17th, have also returned to join our weekly run club. This makes us so happy. Community can only start when people of all backgrounds can feel comfortable, safe and welcome in a space.
Accomplishing the Mission
Aside from a great turnout, we feel like we successfully captured the spirit of Together We Stand NC’s vision of creating and continuing the important dialogue surrounding the racial inequities people of color face in this country. To look out at all the tables mixed with groups from all walks of life, imbibing, conversing, and getting to know one another was so great to see. Again, that’s what building community is all about. When we can take a little extra time to get to know somebody who may not look like you, or come from a totally different walk of life, we begin to see and feel one another’s collective experiences. It’s our mission to continue to try building community in our taproom, while making everyone who walks through our doors feel comfortable and safe!
We Did Some Good for Neighborhood Hope
We can’t thank our non-profit partner, Neighborhood Hope, enough for allowing us to work with them again on yet another fun event. It was important to make sure they got plenty of love and awareness for all the amazing work they’re doing in our Charlotte community, as well as raising some funds to put to further good use! TJ Keeter, Sports Outreach Director for Neighborhood Hope, was able to address all of our runners before taking off, and discussed some of the work they’re doing to uplift some of our vulnerable Charlotte communities. We were also able to raise a little money for them too! Between collecting your generous sign up fees, and the donation from our taproom sales for the day, we were able to donate a record amount for a single charity event than ever before! Neighborhood Hope now has just over $1,400 to use to help their wonderful organization! They were kind enough to share how your generous donations are going to be put to use, so let’s take a look at what Founder/Health Initiative Director, Jenny Meadows, said:
Neighborhood Hope’s Plans for Donation
“We are so grateful for the generosity of Together We Stand NC and Divine Barrel as you guys came together through the race and raised over $1,400. Wow!! We have decided as a staff to take this money and do two things: Number 1, we will provide shoes, clothes, and school supplies to any of our kids who are in need. Number 2, we will use the remainder of the funds to help throw a party for all the kids who are a part of our tutoring program. Both of these needs are big deals in the fact that we can provide much needed school supplies and clothes, and rewarding our kids who are in tutoring has shown to be extremely effective in retaining them in the program. Thank you so much for your love and generosity. We are grateful to be a consistent partner with you guys.”
We Already Can’t Wait for Next Year
To say we’re excited to run this event back in 2022 would be an understatement. Again, we can’t thank everyone who participated enough! Together We Stand NC, Neighborhood Hope, Fleet Feet Charlotte and employees made this event everything we hoped for! We hope next year we’ll have even more of you joining us for this social run or walk, followed by contemplation, conversation, and a fun afternoon of imbibing together!
Don’t forget to check out this month’s Spotify playlist as well! Go to our Spotify channel and look for the playlist called Divine AF. We decided to use an expansive playlist created by our newest employee, Sean Beck. Sean is one of our incredibly kind and welcoming bartenders, and we’re so excited to welcome him to our team! You may know him from his role as Tobias Johann Sebastias, a German guest bartender for our Oktoberfest celebration. Check out this eclectic playlist spanning multiple genres, but slightly geared towards Indie Rock. Make sure to say hello and welcome Sean to our FamDBB next time you visit the brewery! Until next month folks, that’ll do it for us. Stay safe, be kind to one another, and we’ll get through this difficult chapter in all of our lives together!
