Tales of the Cocktail Foundation Announces 2019 Grants Recipients

Four Organizations to Receive Grants to Educate, Advance and Support the Global Spirits Community

NEW ORLEANS- July 16, 2019 – Tales of the Cocktail Foundation is pleased to announce the 2019 recipients for the Foundation’s second annual grants program. The leadership team, Board of Director Co-Chairs, Gary Solomon Jr. and Neal Bodenheimer, President Caroline Rosen and CEO Jenny Butler initiated the grants program last year to support and give back in a meaningful way, guided by the tenets of the foundation’s core pillars: to educate, advance and support the spirits and hospitality industry. This year the Foundation was able to allocate funds to four esteemed organizations that will further support and benefit the global spirits community. The Foundation elected to award fewer grants than last year, but at a higher value to ensure the grants could have a significant impact on these mission-aligned industry initiatives, not only through increasing the monetary investment for individual grants, but by allocating greater access to mentorship and resources from both the Grants Committee and Tales of the Cocktail Foundation Board.

 

Last year, the Foundation established a Grants Advisory Committee, comprised of some of the industry’s best and brightest minds to help govern the process: Colin Appiah, Bacardi; Tiffanie Barriere, The Drinking Coach & Drinking with the Girls; Eric Bennett, Carrigan’s Public House; Angie Fetherston, Drink Company; Alba Huerta, Julep; Nandini Khaund, Bar Manager; Don Lee, Existing Conditions and Cocktail Kingdom; Lynnette Marrero, Speed Rack; Morgan Schick, Bon Vivants; Kellie Thorn, Empire State South; and Rocky Yeh, Maison Ferrand. This year, the same esteemed group of talent reviewed 83 letters of intent, and subsequently, 21 full proposals to select the four that will go on to receive either partial or full-funding for their initiatives geared at improving the global bar community.

“This year’s grant recipients represent and align with the Foundation’s mission to cultivate a culture that educates, advances and supports our industry,” said Alba Huerta. Grants Advisory Committee. “Every year we look forward to new submissions from passionate individuals to champion to continue building a strong giving culture.”

The Tales of the Cocktail Foundation grants program will continue as an ongoing initiative, with recipients announced annually at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans. Please see a full list of 2019 Tales of the Cocktail Foundation grants recipients below.

 

● Beyond Bars Akademia – Created in 2017, Beyond Bars Akademia is a hospitality school rehabilitating women ex-inmates through a holistic approach to reintegration and access to employment in South Africa. June 2018 marked the graduation of their first promotion of ten students with seven out of ten graduating and now working in various establishments in South Africa. Beyond Bars Akademia is proud to show a 70% success rate at exams and a 0% reoffending rate amongst our alumni for their first year. In April 2019, Beyond Bars Akademia will hopefully see the arrival of 70 new students at the school and 20 will enroll in Alpha I, a 6-months program at their boarding school which offers to its beneficiaries, internships and job placement when completed.

 

● The Benevolent – The Benevolent’s mission is to provide help and support to current and former employees of the drinks industry and their families. This is done with the goal of ensuring a world without medical, personal, or financial hardship for colleagues of the drinks industry and their families. As a charity, The Benevolent currently assists over 450 members of the trade with a variety of problems ranging from issues with debt, long-term illness, and support for mental health difficulties. The team plans on doing this by running a series of mental health first aid courses across cities within the UK that will be available for bartenders to attend completely free of charge.

● Liberty’s Kitchen – For nearly ten years, Liberty’s Kitchen has supported disconnected young people on their journeys towards stability and self-efficacy. Using food and hospitality as a launching pad, Liberty’s Kitchen enables young adults to build careers and become agents of change in their communities. Liberty’s Kitchen is currently planning an advanced beverage exposure and training course for graduates of their Youth Development Program who are looking to take the next steps in their careers. The course will consist of a combination of bar history and basics, technical skills training, bartending career exposure, and mentorship. Through advanced training and mentorship, they strive to enable formerly disconnected youth to attain front-of-house and bartending positions, increase their wages, and build sustainable careers.

 

● Children of Restaurant Employees – Children of Restaurant Employees was founded during the 2004 National Restaurant Association (NRA) Show at an after-dinner gathering of a handful of operators and suppliers. CORE grants support to children of food and beverage service employees navigating life-altering circumstances. CORE is entering its fourth year of a growing and robust Disaster Relief Program and with growth comes the need to serve more families affected by the devastation. Disaster relief has revealed itself as a considerable need within the community that we serve. CORE was a 2018 Grant Recipient and with this year’s grant, Tales of the Cocktail Foundation can further help CORE assist 20 families in 2019 that find themselves affected by natural disasters, making a sizable impact to families affected by devastating tragedy.

For more information on Tales of the Cocktail, please visit www.tocstaging.wpengine.com.