Dégustabière dissolution leaves legacy with local soup kitchen

Following the announcement in early April that Sherbrooke’s Dégustabière beer festival will be liquidating its assets and shutting down for good, the members of the festival’s board of directors announced on Tuesday that they will be donating their remaining funds to the la Chaudronnée de l’estrie soup kitchen. According to a press release issued by the Dégustabière

team, la Chaudronnée will use the funds to help support the community garden project it started in 2003 to help provide healthy meals.

“Our statutes state that in the case that our organization should be dissolved, the remaining funds should be donated to a not-for-profit organization that is in line with our values,” said Jonathan Rondeau-leclaire, President of Dégustabière in the festival team’s final official statement. According to Rondeau-leclaire the board selected a shortlist of three community organizations that fit that description, each of whom was then invited to submit a project for consideration. The 35 members of the board then voted to decide which project would be given the money.

A garage sale has been planned for Saturday, June 1, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 350, 5th Avenue in Fleurimont where the festival’s remaining assets will be sold off. Included among the sale items are leftover signature glasses from across the festival’s five years of operation, as well as items like furniture and hardware. All of the revenue from the sale will also be given to la Chaudronnée.

La Chaudronnée de l’estrie prepares roughly 40,000 meals per year to help the more than 1,500 people who visit its soup kitchen and popular education workshops.