From the EAT Inbox—Celebrate Earth Day with Webinar Series, Virtual Hoppy Hours, and a story of sharing and caring.

We receive a lot of information at editor@eatmagazine.ca, so we thought we’d share some items of interest from the inbox. Feel-good stories, things to (virtually) do, suggestions for things to eat and drink, or just things to muse about.

Earth Day 2020

This April 22nd marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of Earth Day. In honour of this occasion, Creatively United is offering a free online EarthFest webinar series, from 11 am to 12:30 pm daily from April 19-25th, featuring an incredible line up of presenters who will explore a multitude of transformational possibilities and creative solutions to inspire and move us forward. Please join us by registering here for free.

BC Ale Trail Introduces Virtual Hoppy Hour

Weekly event aimed to connect people and support local craft brewers

As Canadians continue to adjust to staying home to flatten the curve, the BC Ale Trail hopes to bring people together, if only virtually.

Starting Thursday, April 2nd, BC Ale Trail is launching the Virtual Hoppy Hour. Running every Thursday from 6 – 7 pm PST, Virtual Hoppy Hour is a way to connect with people from the comfort of their own home while enjoying and supporting their local craft brewers.

“This is an unprecedented time, and while staying home and physical distancing is the right thing to do, we wanted to come up with a way to bring people together,” says Monica Frost, BC Ale Trail Project Manager. “The hope of this weekly event is that it will bring a sense of community and levity for everyone, if only for an hour.”

Join here: https://instagram.com/bcaletrail

Thursday’s event, which will be hosted by Angry Hen Brewing, a craft brewery in Kaslo, BC.

Led by Cass Gerritsen, co-owner and front of house manager, Angry Hen will also be taking over the BC Ale Trail Instagram account as part of the platform’s weekly #guestgrammer program. Following this week, Whistle Buoy Brewing (Victoria, BC)  is confirmed to host on April 9th with Barkerville Brewing (Quesnel, BC)  confirmed for April 16th.

Join the BC Ale Trail every Thursday featuring a new host and #guestgrammer to connect with local beer lovers/influencers in the community and support local B.C. breweries on the B.C. Ale Trail.  For more information, visit https://bcaletrail.ca/

Blue Grouse Giving Back

For the month of April, Blue Grouse Estate Winery will donate $1 from every bottle of wine sold, to the Nourish Cowichan Society. This applies to Blue Grouse and Quill wines sold at the winery, retail, and restaurants.

In addition to giving $1 per bottle sold, the Brunner family, owners of Blue Grouse Winery, will match every donation dollar for dollar. With April being BC Wine month, it is a great time to support BC wineries and farmers, and what a bonus to be able to also help a charitable organization that needs it so much.

Nourish Cowichan was created to feed children in need, in the Cowichan Valley school district, the maternity clinic at the Cowichan District Hospital, and three daycares. It’s hard to imagine that the Cowichan Valley has the highest rate of child poverty on Vancouver Island, a staggering 30%. This is the second-highest in British Columbia. Many of the children affected by hunger were going to school without breakfast and the only food they would receive was at school through the Nourish Cowichan program. Now that schools are closed and lessons halted, these children are going hungry.

“While there are many deserving charitable organizations and societies that will require support through the Covid-19 pandemic,” notes Blue Grouse Estate Winery owner Paul Brunner, “Blue Grouse and our family will commit to helping our local community, and those most in need in that community.”

The Nourish Cowichan Society works hard to protect and feed families at risk where parents may have lost their income, and provide emergency hampers with donated non-perishable items, supermarket gift cards, and more. They need your support whether through a wine purchase or otherwise.

“We believe every child should be given the same opportunities to learn and succeed,” notes Brunner. “We hope to help by supporting Nourish Cowichan, so they can combat hunger with nutritious, locally produced food.”