The California Festival of Beers proved a tremendous success, raising $225,000 for Hospice of SLO this year. The event was held at the newly refurbished Madonna Meadows over Memorial Day weekend. Two hundred and seventy-five guests attended a special Arts and Drafts Connoisseur Tasting event on Friday, May 24, and 4,500 guests attended the Grand Tasting event on Saturday, May 25. The sold-out event offered over 200 beers from more than six dozen international breweries.
The beer festival, one of the oldest and largest beer festivals in California, also featured local foods, art viewing and live music.
The money raised all goes directly toward Hospice SLO, a non-profit organization that has been providing non-medical services for anyone in the community without charge to clients, families or insurance since 1977.
“Because of the name of our organization, there is a common misperception that we only provide services for those who are at the very end of their lives,” said Executive Director Kris Kington-Barker. “Hospice SLO more frequently provides support for families who are dealing with progressive life threatening illnesses.”
Additionally, Kington-Barker noted that over half of the clients seen at Hospice SLO are for grief and bereavement counseling. “We don’t require that a person is grieving a loss that happened recently or even to a client we have provided services for.”
Hospice SLO relies on a small core staff, more than 200 volunteers and funding that comes solely from donations, bequests, local grants and fund raising events such as the California Festival of Beers to provide thousands of hours of service each year.
Co-sponsors of Festival include KSBY, Barnett Cox & Associates, Butlerz Events, Stone Brewing Co., Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. and Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.