The Diplomat Fellows Brew a Beer
I never thought I’d live in Flint, and I never thought I’d brew a beer, but beyond anything else Flint is a place that surprises you. It’s a place where you sit outside and someone you know walks by you. It’s a place where you sit on boards of nonprofits at 26. It’s a place where a brewery is willing to listen to your crazy idea and allows you to brew your own beer.
How the Diplomat Fellows got their own brew, for me, epitomizes everything I love about Flint. As a class of fellows, we felt it important to do a group project. Although we each had our own designated project and separate employers, the class of fellows really wanted to do something together that would benefit Flint. With that in mind, we decided on consulting for the YWCA of Flint.
Somewhere in the summer, we came up with a funny idea. What if we had our own beer? It seemed like a cool thing to do, a Diplomat Brew. We laughed about it a few times, but eventually I started to take this idea seriously. I asked our program coordinator if it would be possible, and she pointed us to Tenacity Brewing, a local brewery in Flint that often has a beer on tap in honor of a charity.
What if the beer on tap was for the YWCA? What if that beer was something the Diplomat Fellows got to make?
So, through a joke, some connections, and a few different beer tastings, the Diplomat brew was born. Now that we had a beer (that would be ready in three to four weeks), we set ourselves to the planning of the event. If we have a beer, why not have a party right?
A few of us set off to focus on the project for the YWCA, a few focused on getting donated gifts for a raffle at the event, a few others focused on publicizing the event. And in the matter of a month, we had a beer, we had a party, and we raised over $1,000 for the YWCA in Flint.
This was only possible because of the openness of others in Flint, the can-do attitude of the entire city, and the charitable heart of the brewery and Diplomat (who invited the entire company to our event). What started as a semi-serious joke turned into a full blown event to end the summer, and I don’t think that happens anywhere except in a place like Flint.
This is an excerpt from my book, Millenials and the Resurgence of the American City. I hope you enjoyed this post — if you want to connect, you can reach me here via email gkim9779@gmail.com or connect with me on social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Also, you can find my book on Amazon — here is the link to buy it: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KPCBJDR
