New local brew house gives to the homeless

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Edward Balusek / Visuals Editor

Audacity Brew House will host the Fight the Freeze winter gear drive on Saturday to help the homeless population in Denton stay warm and safe during the cold season.

The newly opened brewery, which uses community as its largest model, is joining forces with notable businesses like Serve Denton and Bet the House BBQ, to provide for Dentonites who are in need.

Eight donations sites, including Recycled Books, all three Denton libraries and Bet the House, will be open from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. The brew house will also host an event catered by the restaurant afterward.

One hundred tickets for barbecue dinner and a pint of beer are for sale for $15 on eventbrite.com. Serve Denton will receive $5 from every ticket purchased.

“We were honored they would think of us,” Recycled Books manager Chris Garver said. “We’re a good location, kind of a central hub for the Square.”

Audacity’s Community Outreach and Event Coordinator Andi Sterling spearheaded the drive after owners Scott Lindsey and Doug Smith handed her the reigns.

“We realized that we have a really great facility and lots of opportunities to use what we’ve got to do cool stuff like this,” Sterling said. “Whenever we decided to opened the taproom, using it as a space to give back to the community was one of the top priorities.”

Opposed to a typical coat drive, Fight the Freeze emphasizes donations that will help someone survive outside, especially with a possible repeat of last year’s winter storm.

“To be realistic, someone who is trying to survive without warm shelter in the winter time really needs more than coats,” Sterling said.

After everything is collected and brought to the brewery Saturday afternoon, the gear will be piled into a box truck and a monetary donation will be presented to Serve Denton.

Donations will be distributed to five organizations that help with homelessness in the city.

Executive Director of Serve Denton Pat Smith says there are 200-225 chronic homeless people in the immediate Denton area and a projected 318 currently in the county. Chronic homelessness is defined as living without any form of brick-and-mortar shelter.

The city’s homeless population is barely shy of last year’s 238 countywide population, according to the Denton County Homeless Coalition’s annual Point-In-Time report. Since homelessness has increased, so has the need to provide for them.

“Everyone needs a little help sometimes,” Smith said. ““These folks are often thought of as having no value, and that’s an inaccurate conception of them. Some of them are incredibly talented and intelligent.”

Local musicians Richard Gilbert, Kim Nall and Jesse Thompson will perform throughout the night and a brewery tour will be given at 7 p.m.

Featured Image: Andi Sterling evenly rakes mulch across the garden at Audacity Brew House. Photo by Edward Balusek – Visuals Editor

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