Beverage alcohol retailers across the country take pride in their local communities by supporting numerous events each year. “With our philosophy of saying ‘yes,’ we touch over 500 events per year,” says Twin Liquors marketing director Sandra Spalding. “It can be anything from a raffle item for a neighborhood fundraiser or being on the board or planning committee of a non-profit to wine for a gala or a full season of an arts company like the Austin Opera. We offer our expertise in the industry to help make events successful.”

The Austin, Texas-based retailer remains greatly committed to raising awareness and funds for mental health through support of The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and for Dell Medical School’s Center for Youth Mental Health. “The mental health initiative is currently the big one,” Spalding says. 

The store’s website has a link to a donation request form. “Twin Liquors is about our communities, our neighborhoods, our people,” Spalding says. “We started decades ago with the Heart Association Gala and have grown it over the years to what it is now. We will continue to support our communities and our industry.”

In Wappingers Falls, New York, Viscount Wines & Liquor typically supports more than 200 charities each year. “The store has always believed that because we benefit from the community with consumers spending their money with us, we should show our gratitude by helping the people who give their time and effort for the hundreds of worthy causes that exist but are underfunded,” says store manager Matthew Landolt.
The store supports the community in many ways. “We offer a donation of some kind—sponsorships, gift baskets for raffles, gift cards, bottles for auction or raffle, wine for events—to every non-profit organization or community fundraiser that makes a request,” Landolt says. “All they have to do is ask.” 

Viscount is partial to local animal organizations, including Stray Help and the Dutchess County SPCA in Poughkeepsie and Mid-Hudson Animal Aid in Beacon. In addition, the store’s wine staff present multiple times a year at Sunset Sensations series at the historic Locust Grove mansion and property in Poughkeepsie. “We have also helped the Hope For Youth Foundation give out scholarships to local students,” Landolt says. “In recent years, we have decided to donate bottles of allocated Bourbons instead of selling them. This has reaped thousands of dollars for organizations, including over $30,000 for Hope For Youth Foundation.”

This year the store is raffling a 750-ml. bottle of Pappy Van Winkle 23-year-old ($25 a ticket) and a bottle of 20-year-old ($20 a ticket) for the Hope For Youth Foundation, which helps children who need physical, emotional, educational, or enrichment support. These bottles are not on the store’s retail shelf and are highly valued. “We certainly hope we have an impact on these organizations’ fundraising, and we appreciate the connection customers feel with us when we partner with local organizations,” Landolt says.

Viscount is not the only retailer to tap Pappy Van Winkle’s rare whiskies to raise funds for charities. Northern Indiana’s Belmont Beverage and Chalet Party Shoppes held its second Pappy Van Winkle Charity Auction this year on July 25. Attendees purchased a $25 store gift card to enter the auction in South Bend, Indiana. Multiple bottles of Pappy Van Winkle were auctioned. Lot 4 included 750-ml. bottles of Pappy Van Winkle 10-, 12- , 15-, and 20-year-old Bourbon and Pappy Van Winkle 13-year rye. Lot 25 featured bottles  of Pappy Van Winkle 10-, 12-, 15-, and 20-year-old Bourbon.

This year, more than $40,000 was raised for the Fraternal Order of Police’s Santa Elficer Program, which provides gifts to children and meals to families. “We have been part of Northern Indiana since 1971 so it is our intention to give back to the place that has been our home since we started,” says company president Clair McKinley. “Sharing with each of the communities we are part of has been important to the family and company since the beginning.”

Each year Belmont and its sister concept Chalet Party, which comprise 34 stores, divides its allocation of Bourbons into its three markets of South Bend, Elkhart, and Fort Wayne. “Each year, our employees pick a charity in each of the three markets, spreading the gift in each area,” McKinley says. “We try to pick a different charity each year.”                                                                                     

Charities that Belmont has supported include Saint Mary’s Soup Kitchen in Fort Wayne, which has been feeding the hungry since 1975, and Elkhart Loveway Inc., which provides equine experiences for individuals with disabilities since 1973. Belmont has an annual fundraising charity golf outing, and for many years, the company has given to Big Brothers Big Sisters’ Camp Potawatomi, The Shepherd’s House, Bishop Dwenger High School, and the ALS Association. 

Organizations seeking donations submit a letter to Mckinley and/or chief of operations Dan Kaczmarek, and then upper management reviews it at Belmont’s main office in Fort Wayne. “We want to carry the tradition of giving back to the community,” McKinley says. “It was set by our founder, Tom Druley, and it needs to carry on throughout the success of the business.”