Breweries, Led by Houston’s Saint Arnold, Raise $35,000 for Houston Food Bank

A campaign organized by craft brewers to help Hurricane Harvey flood victims has raised thousands of dollars.

New estimates report Hurricane Harvey dumped 34 trillion gallons of water over Texas and Louisiana from August 23 to August 30, and those totals could go even higher as researchers continue to analyze the data. Southern Texas, including the Houston area, was hard hit, and the craft beer community has come together to help.

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In the days immediately following the storm, Brock Wagner, the founder and owner of Houston’s Saint Arnold Brewing, received numerous messages from people in the craft beer community asking how they could help. Brock put together #ReliefBeers, a campaign where participating breweries donated one dollar from each pint of beer sold in their taprooms on Friday, September 8.

Saint Arnold says #ReliefBeers has raised $35,000 for the Houston Food Bank, the city’s largest food donation foundation. Every dollar donated to the Houston Food Bank provides the equivalent of three meals.

“We felt very honored that over 100 craft breweries would join together to raise funds for the Houston Food Bank’s Harvey disaster response efforts,” says Amy Ragan, chief development officer of Houston Food Bank. “The funds will be used to help us distribute food, water and other necessary items to those impacted by the storm and subsequent flooding. Thanks to these funds, those affected will have one less thing to worry about as they rebuild their lives.”

While a majority of the breweries were from Texas, brewers from across the country, including Colorado, New Jersey and Georgia, were part of the campaign. You can see the full list on the #ReliefBeers website.

Jess Baker

Jess Baker walked into a beer fest in 2010 and realized beer had come a long way from what her dad had been drinking since the 70s. She served as editor-in-chief of CraftBeer.com from spring 2016 to spring 2020, bringing you stories about the people who are the heartbeat behind U.S. craft brewing. She's a runner, a die-hard Springsteen fan, a mom who is always scouting family-friendly breweries, and always in search of a darn good porter.

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