The region’s craft beer community rallies to pick up one of its own
At a time that is hitting those in the hospitality industry particularly hard, few were hit as hard as Kevin Mack.
On Friday, Nov. 6, the mural artist was bicycling from his Bloomfield apartment to his bartender job at Dancing Gnome Beer in Sharpsburg when, at the intersection of Penn and Friendship avenues at Children’s Hospital, a speeding dark-colored SUV struck him from behind and sent him flying. The driver sped away.
Bystanders helped get Mr. Mack to UPMC Presbyterian, where he learned that he had two broken vertebrae and a broken tailbone. At least he wasn’t, as he’d feared while lying on the street, permanently paralyzed. And unlike many, he had health insurance.
But he couldn’t work, at the brewery or at his art. Even with multiple surveillance videos, police were unable to identify the driver.
Before Mr. Mack even was out of the hospital the next day, friends as well as strangers started to come together to help get him back on his feet. It was something else he didn’t see coming.
On the following Friday, 26-year-old Sydney Mealey of Millvale, who works at 412 Brewery on the North Side, and who is an admirer of this “really genuine person,” along with Dancing Gnome fan Gary Vincent started a GoFundMe.com crowdfunding effort to raise money for Mr. Mack.
“It hasn’t been easy on any of us, I’ll acknowledge that, but servers and customer facing jobs have had the hardest impact,” Ms. Mealey wrote about the pandemic from her personal experience. “The giant hurdle that a debilitating injury creates as we head into choppier waters is something that no one should be faced with.”
Several friends had joined her in wanting to help, she wrote. “Now, I know how much we all talk about how much we come together within craft beer, and I can tell you 100% how much I believe it.”
She believes it even more now.
Working via group chat with an inner circle including Mr. Vincent, Buzzy Torek and Josh Castonguay, Ms. Mealey fired up some spreadsheets (she also works as a contract manager for Plantscape) and organized their fundraiser.
Donations poured in. In less than 24 hours, $8,000.
She and her friends were “shocked” but delighted. “Again, we really can’t thank you enough for contributing during an already challenging year, and we will keep you updated as often as possible.”
Including about how a
doctor confirmed that Mr. Mack was facing a recovery period of two to three months athome, with his cat.
Breweries — across the city and the region, including two that weren’t even yet open— other businesses and individuals began making donations of beers and future beers, many of them rare and highly coveted, as well as other items, which Ms. Mealey and company assembled into an online raffle. They sold chances for $10 each or 11 for $100. They would pick winners — one prize only per entrant — using a random number generator during a Facebook live drawing.
This list of prizes kept growing, as did Ms. Mealey’s gratitude. As she wrote, “This is the astounding collective effort of what I sometimes like to call my ‘beer family.’” And others jumped in, almost all of them sending notes of encouragement and offers of help for Mr. Mack.
His friends assembled a long list of 36 prize lots, everything from a trio of barrel-aged Dancing Gnome brews to a pair of early admission tickets to Fresh Fest 2021 from organizer Day Bracey to a sweet Traeger pellet grill. Pittsburgh Whiskey Friends contributed one of its annual Advent calendar collections — 25 days’ worth of 1-ounce pours of whiskeys chosen by Aaron Hajduk, who made tiny custom labels using Mr. Mack’s paintings. Lot No. 35 was a
custom Hicks opener to be hand-painted by Mr. Mack, which organizers added after they reached their fundraising goal of $3,000. That happened on Nov. 17.
Mr. Mack posted on Instagram, “I am FEELING THE LOVE you all have been sharing. The outpour of kindness I’ve received this month is unreal. Since getting hit 2 weeks ago I’ve been helped by total strangers on reddit, DG regulars, new friends + old friends, and the entire Pittsburgh beer community. You folks have been filling my heart and fridge with so much goodness it’s difficult to comprehend. I feel so lucky. ...
“I’ve never felt this much community in my entire life.”
By the time Ms. Mealey drew winners on Dec. 6 — broadcast live from the Dancing Gnome taproom — the “Mackfest raffle” had 1,044 entries. Altogether, they’d raised $16,677 (and still counting) for Mr. Mack.
As she noted as she signed off after the drawing, he was doing well, starting physical therapy and “just, I think, amazed by the rallying of the community.”
She has been, too. “I expected to see support, but not nearly this much,” especially given how many people are struggling themselves, she said. “We were absolutely blown away. Honestly, I still am.”
Mr. Mack, 29, says it was “humbling.” Not just the money people gave, but also the beer, the taco kits and the chicken soup, and all the
other support. A friend who sells medical equipment got him a walker, a grabber and a toilet seat. “It seems everything I needed, I knew someone for. And they reached out to me.
“I feel so spoiled and happy at the same time.”
By mid-December, he was still sore and having a hard time sitting or lying down, but he was walking and able to go slowly up and down steps and do other things with the help of his girlfriend, Chelsea Schilling.
He figured it’ll be spring before he can get back to murals he’s doing, including for the mayor of Sharpsburg and for a South Side business.
But at his apartment’s kitchen table, he was back to doing some sketches and art. That included working on some special surprise gifts for the people who helped him, including those who made donations. He’s actually donated some of the money to others in need.
“I know it sounds corny,” he says, “but it makes me want to do more. It’s inspiring.”
What this makes them all want to do is get together. That’s going to have to wait until Mr. Mack is all healed up and COVID-19 allows, but, “When the time allows for it,” says Ms. Mealey, “we’re going to have many beers, we’re going to have hot dogs — we’re going to have a big shindig.”