Wild West Brewfest is a premiere community event. Sponsored by the Katy Rotary and held in Katy, Texas each spring, this beer festival is notable not just for the hundreds of amazing beers to sample, but also for its support of the local community. Here at Great Beer Now, we contribute to the festival each year, volunteering our efforts to promote the festival to the general public and encourage others to take part in the volunteer effort. We have been supporting the Wild West Brewfest since it started in 2012 and are proud to continue lending our skills and talents to this worthwhile effort.
The 2016 Wild West Brewfest was, once again, a great success, breaking the previous year’s record and exceeding expectations. The total money raised this year amounted to more than $130,000 and was made possible through the volunteer support of more than 7,300 people. Wild West Brewfest is all about good times and good people and the volunteer efforts of so many individuals, as well as the direct support from the thousands of individuals who attend the festival, are what make this community effort such an amazing success.
Who receives the funds from the event? The beneficiaries include important non- profit and charitable causes from the greater Katy, Texas area. Here is a quick summary of some of the organizations and money received from Wild West Brewfest 2016:
- KISD Band projects $13,000
- KISD FFA projects $10,000
- Casa De Esperanza (shelter for abused children) $3,500
- Rainbow Room (shelter for abused children) $3,500
- KISD FFA barn sale purchases (for students who did not make it into the auction) $10,000
- Clothed by Faith (clothing ministry for the underprivileged to buy collection bins for clothing donations) $8,000
- Paint USA (painting a map of the US on elementary school basketball courts) $1,000
- Christmas Toy Drive $2,000
- Fort Bend Scholarships for underprivileged students coordinated by Commissioner Andy Meyers $3,000
- Children of the Dump (International project in Nicaragua to assist young children with food) $3,000
- FFA Hamburger cookout (cooking hamburgers for the students on “barn move in day”) $1,000
- Disaster Relief Fund (these funds are set aside for disasters such as the flooding the City of Katy and surrounding areas experienced in the Spring of 2016) $2,000
- Fire Pups (teaching young children the dangers of fire) $500
- Christ Clinic (providing medication and medical services to those less fortunate) $5,000
- YMCA (dedicated to funding programs for economically challenged families with children, teaching them to learn how to swim) $3,000
- KISD Career and Technical Student organizations (helping those who cannot attend leadership conferences) $3,000
- Katy Celebration days $5,000
- Keep Katy Beautiful $5,000
- Katy Special Rodeo (helping challenged young people enjoy various rodeo activities) $2,000
- Katy Gardening Project (teaching our elementary students the importance of learning how to plant a garden and the simple things like where do carrots come from) $1.500
There is one other recipient of funds that deserves special mention. A female student from Mayde Creek High School in Katy was homeless and in need of support and encouragement. Upon learning about this young lady, the Wild West Brew Fest team agreed she was someone deserving of support and right away, the funds were delivered to pay for her project and purchase her animal at the FFA livestock show. From there, this brilliant young lady was able to attain scholarships and is now set to attend Texas A&M to study engineering on a 100 percent scholarship. It’s stories like these that keep myself and others involved in the Wild West Brewfest and make us all so proud to lend our assistance.
Beer festivals are a fantastic way to spend an afternoon. Add the spirit of community and giving and you elevate the experience to an entirely new level. The Wild West Brewfest was named by Beeryeti.com as the greatest beer festival in the United States and with so many years of improved success, the 2017 festival scheduled for May 5 and 6 is bound to bring with it even greater rewards. It’s all about giving back, and the Katy Rotary, the countless volunteers, the patrons, and everyone else involved deserve much congratulations for making the Wild West Brewfest one of the truly remarkable beer festivals in the world.
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