Barrio Brewing Foundation Fund Pledges $25,000 To Help Hospitality Personnel

(Photo by Lennart Tange/Creative Commons)

Tucson – Arizona’s hospitality industry personnel have been hit hard by the COVID-19 health crisis and organizations like the Barrio Brewing Foundation Fund are stepping up to assist them.

The Barrio Brewing Foundation Fund is donating $25,000 to Greater Tucson Leadership (GTL) to purchase 500 $50 grocery gift cards for employees of local restaurants and bars who have been impacted by recent closures. The Fund and GTL will work with the Tucson Metro Chamber to distribute the cards to area businesses.

Businesses wishing to apply for the grocery gift cards are encouraged to email Adam Begody of the Tucson Metro Chamber at abegody@tucsonchamber.org.  Please include name of business and contact information. Submissions will be accepted through Friday, April 10th.

Earlier this year, Dennis and Tauna Arnold announced that they were giving 100 percent ownership of Barrio Brewing Company, the oldest craft brewery in Arizona, to their employees.  The Arnolds went one step further in supporting the Tucson community with the creation of the Barrio Brewing Foundation Fund, held at the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona, which provides assistance to Southern Arizona charities.

“The toll that virus-related closures has taken on local restaurants and bars is unprecedented,” said Karen Arnold, a member of the Barrio Brewing Foundation Fund’s Advisory Board in a press release.  “For people who make their living serving meals and beverages to all of us over the years to now be unable to afford those basic pleasures of life for themselves hits home hard. This is our way of giving back.”

“The commitment that the Fund is making stands for a community that we love and its members in need,” said Dennis Arnold.  “I started in the restaurant industry in 1974 here in Tucson and have enjoyed it immensely. To be able to give back to that community in a meaningful way is the least we could do as our family has enjoyed not only working in the trade but enjoying a lifetime of Tucson ’s amazing food and beverage scene.”

The Barrio Brewing Foundation Fund was established in 2019 to support the most vulnerable individuals in our community. The Fund is a donor-advised fund held at the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona .  Grants are awarded to Southern Arizona-based charities and are, according to Fund representatives, “intended for people and projects that foster the purpose and goodwill of a community that has given us so much.”

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