Consider brewing Rising Hope at your brewery, fight childhood cancer and showcase your charitable side

Black Is Beautiful is the awareness beer of the year, and rightfully so, but I say let’s continue to use the beauty of beer to keep important messages in front of customers.

Here’s another great collab recipe and brand aimed at educating beer drinkers and raising money for a great cause. The National Pediatric Cancer Foundation (NPCF) is hoping to tap into the passion and philanthropy of the beer industry to help support Brewing Funds the Cure — an initiative to raise awareness and funds for pediatric cancer research. Kicking off in October, craft brewers from states around the nation will once again handcraft a signature charity beer, Rising Hope, with 100 percent of proceeds benefiting NPCF.

How can breweries get involved?

Breweries can get involved in a couple of different ways. NPCF’s Rising Hope program works with one specific brewery per state and provides the ingredients needed to make the Rising Hope IPA. The special brew is created for their own communities with all proceeds funding the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation’s life-saving research and treatments. On this page, view a map of the 30 states that have participants and the ones that are still in need of partners.

If a state is already spoken for, breweries can also participate in the Tap Handle Program where breweries can select one of their own brews and donate a percentage of sales from that brew during a week or month. World of Beer (WOB) is doing this and has once again teamed up with NPCF, donating a percentage of select beer sales at over 50 locations nationwide now through December. Furthermore, fundraising and events opportunities to help raise funds for pediatric research are always accepted.

In 2019, the Rising Hope release had partners in 23 states and raised over $125,000. In 2020, craft breweries across more than 30 states have committed to creating the special brew. NPCF is hoping Rising Hope will nearly double its contributions in its second year.

Why is this important?

NPCF shares this:

• Cancer is the #1 cause of death by disease among children.
• 43 children per day are expected to be diagnosed with cancer.
• Only 4% of the billions of dollars that are spent annually on cancer research and treatments are directed towards treating childhood cancer.
• More than 95% of those who survive childhood cancer will have a significant health related issue by the time they are 45 as a result of being treated with drugs designed for adults.

Released in October, Rising Hope will only be brewed while supplies last into the fall. Through donations from the Country Malt Group, Yakima Chief Hops and Amoretti Fruit Puree, brew masters from Tampa-based Cigar City Brewing and Brew Bus Brewing developed the special recipe for Rising Hope brew, and all participating breweries will utilize 100 percent donated ingredients for the malt and hops.

Businesses in the brewing industry are invited to help support the NPCF find less toxic and more targeted treatments for kids — and ultimately one step closer to finding a cure. To learn more about collaborative partnerships with NPCF, please visit NationalPCF.org.