2nd Anniversary -- check out our Team Members' Charities of Choice!

Two years ago today we flung open the doors of the taproom to the public for the first time.  To celebrate the Terrific Twos, we're having a weekend-long party here and each of our team has chosen a charity to encourage y'all to support with tips or other contributions.  The selections, and the reasons for them, make us grateful all over again for the people who work with us here at Horse & Dragon, and for the folks who are devoting their lives to making a positive difference by establishing and working for these charities.  Read on to find out a bit more!

​

​The MS Society helps people affected by MS by funding research, driving change through advocacy, facilitating education, and providing programs and services that help those affected and their families. My Poppabear has MS and the people at the MS Society have been very helpful offering transportation services, group therapy, and even helped me navigate transitioning my dad from private insurance to Medicare. They have chapters in all 50 states so their network is expansive. Beyond raising awareness and funding research for rehabilitation technology their goal is a world without MS; something I really hope happens one day.
 
-- Claire

​Non-profit Summitstone Health Partners operates as Larimer County’s “mental health safety net”.  Its mission is to provide unsurpassed behavioral health prevention, intervention, and treatment services in Larimer County.   One out of four adults suffer from a diagnosable mental health disorder.   This affects each of us, our friends & families, and our community.   Summitstone provides services for all of us, including those not covered by traditional health care plans, at several locations.  They recently opened a new mental health crisis services center (like an ER or urgent care center for mental health issues) at 1217 Riverside Ave.
(just south of Consuelo’s Express). 
Cheers to a mentally healthy community and thanks to Summitstone Health Partners for all your efforts!
 
-- Chad

Luke sez:  I worked with this group for a while during my time with Job Corps and found they truly had a positive direction and vibe
 
TCFFO offers a wide range of programs and classes to help adolescents and their families make better choices.   The Center is a non-profit agency that offers education, intervention and support. They focus on creating programs and support systems to help youth and families sustain long term, positive changes within the family unit.
 
-- Luke

The CPRW brings together local volunteer and other groups to take action to protect and preserve the watershed that we live in and rely upon for life in Fort Collins.  There are so many reasons that the Poudre River Watershed is important - supporting the population, local businesses, recreation, agriculture.  The CPRW is the most effective confluence of the many preservation groups that directs resources toward that goal of protection and preservation of this vital water source in Northern Colorado!
 
-- Benjamin, Hayden & TimCo

​In bicycle-friendly FoCo, we’re used to seeing bikes right and left.  In many communities, bikes aren’t so prevalent and are out of reach, financially, for most people.  However, they can provide a means for economic change for whole communities.  As their website states:
 
Bikes 4 Life collects, restores and provides bicycles to the most marginalized & impoverished communities around the world.  In remote communities a bicycle is not only a means of transport to places of employment and education but can provide many with access to remote sources of food, water, medicine and shelter.
One bicycle can support social rehabilitation & economic change.
 
-- Titus

​Fort Collins’ Murphy Center for Hope is both a core service provider and is a collaborator with agencies that have all assembled under one roof to serve anyone who is homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. The Murphy Center serves as a gateway to connecting to a variety of services located outside of the Murphy Center.
 
-- Christian

​The Animal House provides second chances for thousands of our furry friends and is working to reduce euthanasia rates of adoptable animals. They do this by collaborating with overcrowded and kill shelters, providing time and space for homeless animals to find their forever homes, and educating the community. They are a local organization that has been advocating for these silent sufferers for 8 years. Being funded entirely by private contributions they rely on community support to offer these services. The Animal House will also moving their facility in 2016 and can use as much support as possible to make it happen successfully. Please help them continue their mission to improve and save lives!
www.animalhousehelp.org
-- Abby, Ashleigh, Linsey & Sage

​Skateistan began as a grassroots 'Sport for Development' project on the streets of Kabul in 2007, and is now an award-winning, international NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) with projects in Afghanistan, Cambodia and South Africa. Skateistan is the first international development initiative to combine skateboarding with educational outcomes. Skateistan is non-political, independent, and inclusive of all ethnicities, religions and social backgrounds.
I believe in this mission because the majority of the children impacted are girls. For many it’s illegal to ride a bicycle but skateboards give them an outlet to freedom, education and community building. These kids shred!
http://skateistan.org/
--Tucker

Literacy is the key to being able to provide for yourself; childhood is the easiest time to become literate.  Book Trust is a fantastically simple and effective program that enables full classrooms of children in high need areas to choose and own their own books, which they order from the Scholastic Book Order form each month. The choice & ownership infects whole classrooms of kids to be enthusiastic about reading, and inspires a culture of literacy both in classrooms and in families at home.  $10 supports a child for a month’s order.
 
Book Trust was started in FoCo! 
It now serves over 38,000 kids in 132 schools – including 11 in NoCo –
in 15 states and is growing every year.
 
-- Liz, Tatum & Carol