“Food is love,” said the beer brand. That is the message that the Dock Street Brewery wanted the people of Philadelphia to embrace. In a time when people everywhere are hurting because of a pandemic that shut down the way we live, work, love and play, Dock Street (and the scores of other generous and righteous craft spirit makers out there) wanted to give something back. And it should not go without saying that while they are giving back, they are hurting, too.
But that is not the point of giving. If one person is hurting, that is one person too many. So, after the Philadelphia brewery donated more than 200 pizzas to health care facilities across City of Brotherly Love, it turned its attention on the less fortunate, including shelters like Episcopal Community Service, Project Home, Bethesda Project, Womenspace and Families First Philadelphia.
As everyone of us looks for the light at the end of the tunnel, the sun through the clouds, or whatever cliché you want to throw at the situation, the only way out is up.
The sign of love was so impactful that some of the members of the Miracles in Progress, a recovery house for drug addiction, talked about the act in their therapy session the next day.
Over the past few months, our website and social media posts have been trying to keep up with the breweries that have not only figured out how to pivot in times of great duress, but also how to make sure that the people in their communities know they are thinking about them. Curbside deliveries. At-home deliveries. Donating food to shelters. And the list, I am proud to say, goes on and on.
And, as everyone of us looks for the light at the end of the tunnel, the sun through the clouds, or whatever cliché you want to throw at the situation, the only way out is up. The only way to keep your business, your brand, your employees and yourself sane is to keep pushing upward.
I am not going to repeat what we have heard repeatedly the past few months, i.e., that we are all in this together. Because while we are, some brands, like Dock Street, are putting their taps and pizza ovens and people where they count.
So, as you read this and roll through another issue of a magazine that covers and industry we are so thrilled and honored to be a part of, remember that the person next door, down the street or just over the rise may have it worse than you.
Showing a little compassion does not always ring the tip bell, so to speak, but when you make that kind of gesture, it feels good, important.
That is the way up for all of us.
Michael J. Pallerino is the editor of Craft Brand & Marketing magazine. Over the past 30-plus years, he has won numerous awards, including the “Jesse H. Neal Editorial Achievement Award,” recognized as the Pulitzer Prize for business-to-business magazines. He can be reached at mikep@ccr-mag.com.