If there was ever an example of Rotary connecting the world it is this project.
Gate City Brewing Company was founded by Pat Rains and Brian Borngesser who met through Roswell Rotary. Dave McCleary learned about modern day slavery during his year as president of Roswell Rotary and started End Human Trafficking Now to get Rotary into the fight to end slavery in our lifetime. At this year's installation party Pat and Dave talked about brewing a beer to support the cause. One of Gate City's employees, Tay Ganio, overheard the conversation and wanted in on the project. She had the perfect receipe for what became Freedom Fighter IPA. Every can sold at the brewery or in grocery stores builds awareness with trafficking stats, the national help line and endHTnow.com on the label.
Dave McCleary was at a GRACE Commission (Marty Kemp, Georgia's First Lady's Taskforce to end human trafficking) meeting and Kristen from Delta Airlines heard about the beer. Delta has their own #GetOnBoard campaign to end human trafficking and is now serving Freedom Fighter IPA on flights out of Atlanta. What started as a local fundraiser is now raising awareness around the world! This project continues to get local, regional and national press coverage that would be valued in the millions of dollars.
Partner Involvement |
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Gate City Brewing Company created the beer and hosted the launch party. The proceeds from beer and swag sales was donated to End Human Trafficking Now. The value of the proceeds and their donated special event space is over $5000. |