From a fundraiser to benefit local fire departments to organizing a food bank for out-of-work hospitality workers during the COVID-19 shutdown, Bear Chase Brewing Company highly values giving back to the community. | Bear Chase Brewing Company
From a fundraiser to benefit local fire departments to organizing a food bank for out-of-work hospitality workers during the COVID-19 shutdown, Bear Chase Brewing Company highly values giving back to the community. | Bear Chase Brewing Company
Bear Chase Brewing Company makes, giving back to the community a strongly-embraced value, so the team was excited to learn they had been nominated for a Loudoun Chamber of Commerce’s 2021 Community Leadership Award in the Small Business category.
“We definitely try to give back to the community as much as possible, and we love to see that the community is recognizing it,” Chris Suarez, Bear Chase Brewing Company general manager, told West Nova News.
The company opened its doors in September 2018, but has already become deeply invested in the community, Suarez said.
During the COVID-19 shutdown when area restaurant workers were laid off, the brewery created Bear Chase Helps, he said. During the crisis, they would periodically host food banks for hospitality industry employees in their tasting room.
“We were able to give out meals to over 300 families,” Suarez said.
The company also hosted a Firefighter Appreciation Day, during which local firefighters from John H. Enders Fire Company and Rescue Squad in Barryville and Blue Ridge Volunteer Fire Company in Clark County had the opportunity to come in and brew a specialty beer with the brewmaster, Suarez said. The proceeds from the sale of that beer was then donated directly to the departments.
“We just recently were able to write them checks for about $6,000 between the two [departments],” he said. The money can cover a variety of fire department needs, from fuel for their fire trucks to equipment that keeps firefighters safe and helps them to save lives.
Another partnership for the brewery is their work with the Boulder Crest Foundation. One of its projects is working with military veterans and first responders who have been diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder.
“We partnered with them in August, and we did a military appreciation day,” he said. “Along with another brewery, we raised over $10,000 for Boulder Crest.”
The Brewery also donates to Gold Star Families, an organization that benefits the family of deceased military members, he said.
Suarez credits a lot of how involved the brewery is in the community to a phenomenal ownership group of five local residents.
“They, early on, knew that this was a business that they can do good with it as well. So, since day one, we’ve been working with different agencies, different organizations to continue to give back as much as we can,” Suarez said. “We are a brewery for the people.”
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