I don’t know about most of you; but I long ago grew weary of the 24/7 negative news cycle. Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to stay informed; but with our immediate access to smart phones, tablets and computers, the constant bombardment of our senses with bad news is not healthy. I believe it is important to make a concerted effort to turn off the news for the overwhelming majority of the day and try to immerse yourself in good and positive things. Whether or not you are a religious person, you should try to focus on good and helpful things. One of my favorite verses from the Bible that I use to remind myself of this is from the Apostle Paul, who remarkably wrote this verse while in prison:
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Philippians 4:8
In other words, if you constantly fill your mind and heart with negative things, it will impact your life negatively in the long run. By focusing on positive things, your life will be positively impacted in the long run. So what is my purpose for writing this? With all the negativity out there today, I want to post some positive things for people to be aware of in order to give you a place to go for some positive news. Most of all, I want to accomplish two objectives – recognize local breweries that are doing good things to support their employees and their surrounding communities and provide readers a place to find ways to take positive action. Each week I am going to highlight a brewery and what they are doing to support their community and how, if you choose, you can support them and their community based effort. If you are a brewery and would like to have your cause highlighted, just go to my Contact page send me your information and a link. To get started, here is my first spotlight.
Think We Not Me
Akademia Brewing Company
Akademia Brewing Company is a brewpub located in Athens, GA, home to the University of Georgia. Since opening in 2017, Akademia has experienced steady growth in both on premise food/beer sales and in retail sales through its expanding distribution footprint. Like so many other breweries out there, complying with CDC and government requirements for social distancing not only put the brakes on growth; but also slammed it in reverse. Not one to sit still and do nothing, Co-Founder and Owner Matt Casey team up with BottleShare to launched Akademia’s Outreach Program Think We Not Me. Utilizing its commercial kitchen, their fundraiser aims to help feed community members in need by providing free meals. Their initial goal was to provide 150 meals the first week and not only did they meet that goal, they exceeded it by providing 250 meals through organizations Our Daily Bread and Downtown Ministries, Family Promise of Athens, and The Salvation Army. Remarkable!
If you would like to support Akademia’s efforts, you can make a donation by clicking the link below:
https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/akademia-outreach-program
If you would like to find out other ways you can support Think We Not Me, contact Matt Casey at info@akademiabc.com.
Organizations mentioned in this article:
Downtown Ministries (Our Daily Bread)
Be sure to support your local brewery!
Let Us Drink Beer 