Fort Collins dads generate African aid one beer at a time

By Steve Graham

Robert Crow just wanted to find some drinking buddies in Fort Collins. As a result, a Ugandan farmer has a new solar phone charger and a Kenyan family runs a new fruit stand.

Brian Schmierer and Robert Crow sample bourbon during a Liquid Therapy event at the Whisk(e)y in Old Town Fort Collins.

Crow is a British transplant working in real estate in Fort Collins. In 2012, he started Liquid Therapy, a dads’ drinking group that offers more than good beer and a break from the kids. Every month
he invites a group of guys (and occasionally their wives) to a different drinking establishment, and asks the brewery or bar to donate $1 per drink to the charity of his choice.

To date, Liquid Therapy events have raised more than $1,400 for microloans in Africa, as well as other non-profits. The group primarily works with Kiva.org, which lists thousands of small loan requests for communities and projects where traditional bank loans are not an option.

In choosing targets for the loans, Crow seeks out fathers in need. He has a soft spot for guys trying to brew or sell beer. So his group has helped expand some grocery stores, fruit markets and taverns in remote African villages. Liquid Therapy also funded a Kenyan farmer’s request for a new smartphone, solar charger and scale, allowing the man to provide valuable crop information to villagers.

The Kenyan farmer and the Kenyan fruit stand worker have repaid their loans, allowing Crow to reinvest the Liquid Therapy donations into other worthy projects. Through reinvestment, the group is up to $3,300 in loans for 17 projects, mostly in Africa.

Liquid Therapy sessions have also raised money for northern Colorado flood relief and a Sandy Hook Elementary School victims’ relief fund.

Crow, 39, moved his family to Fort Collins from Atlanta in 2011. Like many transplants, they struggled to find friends.

They had tried some Meetup events to no avail, but Crow told his wife he was more interested in starting a new social group open to virtually everyone. And like any self-respecting Englishman, he enjoys good beer.

“I told her I was going to start a dads’ group,” he said. “It didn’t matter where you came from or what you did, you’d be welcome.”

The meetings have grown larger, but it’s still about socializing, and drinking good beer and spirits.

“I wondered if we could convince each bar or brewery to give a dollar per drink to help a dad in Africa provide for his family,” he said.

He first asked Pateros Creek Brewery. The evening drew 50 guys and raised $100, so Crow knew he was on to something. The majority of business owners have since agreed to share bar revenues. Fort Collins Brewery, Mayor of Old Town and Funkwerks are a few of the locations where funds were raised.

Crow figures it’s a good investment for the breweries. They enjoy a guaranteed set of customers on a weeknight, as well as valuable publicity.

“We all have something in common. We’re all dads and we’re all looking to blow off a little steam,” said Cory Schinkel, who has been part of the Liquid Therapy gatherings for two years.

Crow is currently a real estate agent, but he previously worked in community development and micro-finance lending in Haiti and Rwanda, where he helped create fair-trade coffee operations in war-ravaged villages.

-Steven Graham is a Fort Collins freelance writer and dad who enjoys the outdoors and great beers.