Tapping into the spirit of service
Brewery owner donates proceeds from new beer to effort aimed at helping kids learn how to swim
According to Chris Wheeler, the owner of Prison Hill Brewing Company, giving back to the community is par for the course for small brew pubs.
“That’s just what breweries do,” Wheeler said, sitting among upturned chairs at his establishment Friday morning while employees prepared to open for business.
This month, though, Wheeler is going above and beyond by giving 100% of proceeds from a new beer to a cause that’s near and dear to him: teaching toddlers water safety.
Wheeler’s dedication to the cause began after tragedy struck two good friends of his, Travis and Ashley Krizay. In June of 2018, their 2-year-old son, Atticus, slipped through a fence surrounding the family’s pool and was found unresponsive minutes later.
After being on life-support for more than a week, the family decided to pull the plug and allow Atticus to donate his heart valves and eyes to another child in need.
The community response was immediate, and Wheeler pitched in, too. Tens of thousands of dollars were raised to help out with the Krizay’s medical bills. The death shocked the Yuma community.
But for Wheeler, this situation had become tragically familiar.
“When Travis lost Atticus, it made seven funerals that I was going to go to for kids that had all drowned,” he said.
So after raising some funds selling a beer made in collaboration with 12 West Brewing in Gilbert, Ariz., Wheeler posed a question to Travis and Ashley.
“I said, OK, would you mind if I gave you half the money I raised? Because they’d had a significant amount of donations … and everything had been covered at that point,” he said. “And I’m like, ‘because this is what I’m thinking: I’m thinking if I take half of it, and I reserve it and I set it aside, and I do another beer in a year in honor of Atticus’
passing and to raise funds, I should have enough to be able to fund swim lessons for kids.”
Travis said that when Wheeler ran the idea by him, he thought, “Yes, that’s exactly the right move.”
And just like that, a yearly tradition was born.
“We can do more and make a big difference,” said Travis. “And what better way to honor my son than to do things like this.”
Though the project is still nameless, and the infrastructure for getting kids free swimming and water safety lessons hasn’t been completely worked out, Wheeler is fully dedicated to keeping it going.
“This is gonna go on until either Prison Hill closes, or I’m dead,” he said.
Currently, he’s in talks with the City of Yuma’s Department of Parks and Recreation, and Wheeler said that they’ve responded “really favorably.”
Wheeler also said that the program won’t necessarily be about making kids proficient swimmers. He just wants to make sure that they have the knowhow to get themselves out of a dangerous situation if needed.
“This is one of those things where you have to involve the parents, you have to involve the children,” he said. “And if it’s something as simple as teaching kids how to roll over and float (and) kick to the wall, that’s all you gotta do.”
For this year’s beer, Wheeler has thrown together “Hazy Krizayzy,” a “hazy” India pale ale named after the Krizay family, that he said is “super juicy, and it’s super good.”
Wheeler said he picked the beer because he knows Travis is partial to India pale ales, which are floral and feature the flavor of hops prominently.
“Oh yeah, I’m a hophead,” said Travis.
And the Krizay family will contribute toward the cause that Wheeler has taken up, too, through the Atticus Kindness Project, an open-mic gathering at Cafecito, the coffee shop they own, that takes place on the first Friday of every month, with food, drinks, music and more.
They pick a different cause or charity each month to donate the proceeds from the event, and the money raised from next month’s will go toward teaching kids water safety.
Prison Hill’s new beer, “Hazy Krizayzy” is available now at the brewery, located at 278 S. Main St.
The next Atticus Kindness Project open-mic event is Aug. 2 starting at 6 p.m. at Cafecito, 118 S. Madison Ave.