Idea Hatched During April’s National Alcohol Awareness Month
An unprecedented agreement between Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Michigan and a local brewery hopes to save lives, raise funds and awareness for MADD-MI through an initiative that places responsible drinking messaging directly in the brewery. Heights Brewing, a new brewery based in downtown Farmington, Michigan, has taken the bold step of being the first brewery to directly support MADD-MI regarding the issue of responsible drinking at the point of purchase.
The initiative will kick-off at a private event on Tuesday, May 21, at Heights Brewing where MADD-MI messaging will be visible throughout the brewery, and a new live-to-stream show through My Michigan TV called Caffeinated Conversations After Dark with Brooke Allen, will launch, with a focus on responsible drinking, planning and the urgency of designated drivers.
According to Paula Love, MADD Michigan Regional Executive Director, the agreement is groundbreaking. “This has never been done before, MADD National has recently approved partnering with licensed establishments that sell beer and wine.” Through MADD’s Designated Driver® campaign, MADD will partner with breweries who take a pledge not to overserve and to encourage its patrons who are drinking to bring a Designated Driver® or use rideshare. “We’re excited to partner with Heights Brewing, the owners are courageous enough to put safety and the lives of the community before profits,” she added.
Brooke Allen, a former WWJ news anchor, and current host of the show “Caffeinated Conversations with Brooke Allen” (the daytime live-to-stream show on My Michigan TV) was inspired by the possibility to reach new audiences after a conversation with Shari Stein, owner of DesignTeam Plus, whose company designed Heights Brewing and other breweries throughout Michigan, and PR pro Karen Couf Cohen, who introduced Allen and Stein for the show.
Brooke has maintained a special relationship with MADD-MI since the tragic death of her former husband in 2004 at the hands of a repeat underage drunk driver. Their daughter was eleven years old at the time of his death. Brooke was pivotal in bringing MADD-MI on board to support the program. She has made it her mission to spread awareness for this 100-percent preventable crime and hopes to bring her show and message on the road to participating breweries throughout Michigan. “I have been involved with MADD-MI for years on behalf of my daughter,” noted Brooke.
Heights Brewing will highlight MADD-MI messaging in the form of logos, PSAs on TV screens, signage, table tent cards, QR codes for ride shares and a fundraising effort where a people can make donations, with a percentage of food proceeds going to MADD. “It was an easy decision when asked if we wanted to participate,” said Shawn Kavanagh, owner of Heights Brewing along with her husband, Ryan Kavanagh. “We empower our staff to make the call if a customer has been overserved or shows up at our brewery intoxicated.”
“When people go out, they plan where they’ll go, what they’ll eat, and what they’ll wear,” says Jason Waldron, the MADD-MI Board Chair and owner of Time Warp Vintage in St. Clair Shores, who lost his family to a drunk driver. “We want people to also plan how they will get home if they plan on drinking.”
For more information on MADD-MI connect with https://madd.org/michigan/ or to donate to this MADD-MI Designated Driver® campaign please visit here.