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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Red, white and charitable

Rick Bonino

No-Li Brewhouse again is reaching out to help the less fortunate in our community.

Starting Wednesday, the brewery is selling discount cases of its Red, White & No-Li pale ale to raise $7,000 for St. Margaret’s Shelter, which provides support for homeless women and their children.

“Money to them is scarce,” says No-Li owner John Bryant. “Seven thousand dollars for that program will go a long, long way.”

No-Li got involved with St. Margaret’s, a Catholic Charities Spokane program, last summer through its monthly LocALE volunteer work in neighborhoods around the city.

“We bought groceries and made them breakfast, sat around the table with the moms and their kids,” Bryant says. “Everybody has a story. Some are tragic, some just took a wrong turn.”

During a tour, the No-Li crew saw the shelter’s sparse community pantry. “It was the saddest thing,” says Bryant. “There was nothing in this pantry.”

Since then, his wife, Cindy, has been making monthly shopping trips to help stock the shelves. Now No-Li is hoping to make a bigger splash.

Beginning tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and continuing through Saturday, cases of 22-ounce Red, White & No-Li bottles will be available at the brewery for $50, with all proceeds going to the shelter. That’s a little over $4 for bottles that usually sell for $6 each.

There’s a limit of one case per person. An initial 140 cases have been set aside for the fundraiser, though that could be extended depending on the response, Bryant says.

“We want to get a lot of people out sharing,” he says. “We’re starting to see all the energy around town with the Zags this week, we thought maybe we could harness that a little bit.”

No-Li last July raised close to $16,000 for a family that lost its home in a fire by selling discount cases of Big Juicy IPA, and collected $15,000 in February for another family whose 3-year-old daughter died in a house fire through sales of “Spokane Has Heart” T-shirts.

“We’re getting back more than the people we’re giving to,” Bryant says. “It creates a cool spirit among the younger people who work for us. They’re learning how to give.

“We’re not here to save the world, but if we can do a few good things, this crazy craft beer business starts to make more sense.”