Now Posted: Harpoon Octoberfest Race Video!

The 2012 Harpoon Octoberfest Race may be over, but the memories live on! Relive the day with our first ever race video and our photo gallery!

Thank you to our runners and volunteers who helped us raise over $27,000 for the Norris Cotton Cancer Center, and thanks to Harrison Buck and Bucknaked Visual Works for producing this video for us!

Call to action: Help our neighbors in Vermont!

In the wake of Tropical Storm Irene’s devastating effect on the state of Vermont, and Vermont being declared in a state of emergency, we have decided to donate to two organizations who are helping our neighbors most affected.

• Our friends at the Vermont Foodbank are using 100% of funds donated to get water and food to those affected. Please visit www.vtfoodbank.org to see how you can help, or text FOODNOW to 52000 to make $10 donation to the Foodbank. Your $10 equals $60 worth of food they can give to their neighbors in need.
• Secondly, the Vermont Red Cross is on the ground and organizing relief efforts. Please help by donating blood at one of their drives or making a monetary donation to http://www.redcrossvtnhuv.org.

We will match your donation to these two very important organizations, up to $2,500 ($1,250 to each organization).

Route 107 in Vermont after Irene. More about this picture in the story below.

We are happy to report that Irene did no harm to Harpoon’s breweries in Boston and Windsor, though many of our colleagues in Windsor have been impacted by the storm. Perhaps the worst-impacted was our Head Brewer of our Windsor brewery Scott Shirley. Scott shared this picture of a flooded Route 107, outside his home, which used to be his commute to and from the brewery every day. Scott and his family are stranded but are in high spirits, helped a bit by the news that our Windsor brewery did not suffer any damage. After Scott was jokingly asked him if he had enough Harpoon IPA to get him through, he said “I have a pretty good store of beer. It has been a good week to break into some of my 100 Barrel bottles I’ve been aging in my cellar.” Way to go, Scott! We look forward to having you back on the brewing floor soon.

We here at Harpoon hope you and yours are faring just as well. Please stay tuned for other ways we plan to help our friend and neighbors.

Cheers,
Harpoon Helps

[Editor’s Note – 10/7/11] Check out this article on craftbeer.com about how Irene has affected Vermont’s Alchemist Pub and Brewery and how Harpoon is helping out its storm-ravaged neighbor.

Share Your Harpoon Helps Memories

We just received an email from our friend Amy who helped out in the early years of Spread Holiday Cheer, and I wanted to share her email with you:

“I would like to briefly share my experience with Harpoon Helps as I’m very proud of where one event took me. Two years ago, a girlfriend sent out an email asking who would want to do the Holiday decorating event. I was working for a local bank at the time and covered the CREW area. Ironically, we were assigned to the Salesian Boys and Girls Club of East Boston. I immediately fell for the work Father John strives to do and became more involved. I engaged my Bank at the time and was able to help the Club get some grant monies. As I continued to show my support, the Board reached out to me and made me one of the first female board members. Today we are proud to say our numbers and diversity is growing!”

Thanks Amy! This is so encouraging to the Harpoon Helps team. We promise to continue to plan missions and events in your community!

Do you have any fond Harpoon Helps memories you’d like to share? Email us at harpoonhelps@harpoonbrewery.com.

The Season of Harpoon Helping

Well, what has become Harpoon Helps’ busiest season of the year is officially over, but hopefully the effects are still being felt by our customers and neighbors. The Harpoon Helps season is made up of our two largest events of the year: the Harpoon Helps Beer-B-Q benefitting the Greater Boston Food Bank, and Harpoon Helps Spread Holiday Cheer. Just this week, we just finished calculating the total of our donation to the Greater Boston Food Bank. This number included ticket sales from Beer-B-Q, sales of our Grateful Harvest t-shirts, as well as sales of Harpoon’s first ever philanthropic product, Grateful Harvest Cranberry Ale. I am proud to announce that funds raised for the Greater Boston Food Bank exceeded our expectations, and totaled $17,496!

We are also wrapping up Harpoon Helps Spread Holiday Cheer, by far our largest volunteer opportunity of the year. On December 4th, more than 400 volunteers helped us decorate 27 homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and community centers in the Greater Boston area and Providence, RI for the holidays. Each location was spruced up with an artificial tree, lights, ornaments, garland, and wreaths.

Harpoon Helpers headed back to the brewery for beer and sandwiches from Uno Chicago Grill after the decorating fun

A week later a couple hundred more volunteers helped us decorate 15 additional locations in Portland, ME, Albany, NY, Worcester, MA, Hartford, CT, Springfield, MA, Lebanon, NH, Claremont, NH, Manchester, NH, Washington, DC, Baltimore, MD, Philadelphia, PA, and Austin, TX. The smiles on the volunteers’ faces, not to mention those receiving assistance from the places we decorated, made us look forward to the Harpoon Helps missions we are already planning for next year. Check out our calendar to see what is coming up. Let’s make every season a season of Harpoon Helps!

Happy Holidays from your friends at Harpoon!

Cheers,

Merrill

Fight Hunger!

2009 Harpoon Point to Point Fundraising Champ Keely Punger

This post is long overdue. August 15th, 2009 was a great day in the Fight against hunger in Vermont. A record-setting 410 riders rode and we are so proud of all the efforts they have made, not just on their bicycles, but also in fundraising. As of this morning, over $75,000 have been raised for the Vermont Foodbank. This means that our great friends at the Foodbank will be able to provide nearly 150,00 meals to Vermonters in need. That is an amazing number – speaking volumes of the efficiency of the Foodbank but also of the overwhelming need.

There are many folks to thank for making the 2009 Point to Point such a great day! All of the sponsors, the great folks at the Vermont Foodbank, the riders and our Harpoon Helpers (aka the volunteers!).  Everyone should raise a pint of Harpoon (or UFO) to Keely Punger, who has raised over $12,000 this year, and is our fundraising champion!

Governor Jim Douglas at the Point to Point post-party at Harpoon Brewery in Windsor

At the post-ride party, we were honored to be visited by Governor Jim Douglas. By his proclamation, August 15th was proclaimed “Ride to Fight Hunger Day” in the state of Vermont. We are so grateful for the Governor’s continued support of the Harpoon Point to Point and of the efforts of the Vermont Foodbank.

If you are interested in donating, you can still do so at www.firstgiving.com/pointtopoint. If you’d like more info about the Harpoon Point to Point or want to sign up for our email list for this event, visit www.harpoonbrewery.com/pointtopoint.

I would be remiss if I did not thank John Deputy for all of his work in taking great photographs of the day. We have posted over 800 of his photos on our website. Here are a few samples of his great work that feature the amazing Harpoon Point to Point riders.

 

Riders starting down the road in Williston!

Thumbs Up!

A beautiful day for a ride in Vermont

 

After a long ride, time for a break

Cheers to all of the riders and volunteers!

Again, congrats riders on a great day and keep up the fundraising (deadline is September 14th)!