The world could use more people like Maria Lopez.

An Indio resident, Lopez is a single mother taking care of seven kids. Four of her own, two nephews and a niece.

One of her kids, Isaiah Hernandez, was diagnosed with Leukemia in August 2015 when he was only two years old.

With endless appointments dealing not only with Isaiah’s cancer, but also with complications from the treatment, Lopez and her family have been going through hard times.

To help lighten the financial load on Lopez and her family, Babe’s Bar-B-Que & Brewhouse and La Quinta Brewing Company are teaming up to host, “Hops 4 Isaiah,” the valley’s first craft beer loop, an event where patrons will have the chance to taste delicious craft beer in three different locations as well as contribute to a great cause.

“On some of our promotions we’ve been putting #DrinkBeerRaiseMoney. It doesn’t get much easier than that,” Babe’s Bar-B-Que & Brewhouse chef and operations manager Arthur Vasquez said.

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The valley’s first craft beer loop

“(A craft beer loop) is something that is not uncommon in the sense that people do pub crawls, where they get on buses and they go from pub to pub,” Vasquez said.

Vasquez approached his close friend and La Quinta Brewing Company owner Scott Stokes with the idea to join forces and offer a pub crawl experience for the fundraiser.

The event will help raise funds for Lopez, Isaiah and their family, as well as serve as a sort-of “open house” for the businesses.

“If you’ve never been to Babe’s or you’ve never been to La Quinta Brewery or their tap room. In four hours you will now be in all three of them,” Vasquez said.

“Hops 4 Isaiah,” happening Saturday from noon to 4 p.m., will offer the chance to taste two, either Babe’s or La Quinta, craft beers at each of the event locations.

Patrons can start either at Babe’s Bar-B-Que & Brewhouse, La Quinta Brewing Company or at the La Quinta Old Town Tap Room, then they can jump on shuttles that will drive out every half hour to the other locations.

Lunch will be provided at Babe’s Barb-B-Que & Brewhouse. Ticket prices are $59 for general admission and $69 for VIP passes. A regular wristband will get patrons a standard barbecue lunch and VIP passholders will have a wider range of options to choose from for lunch.

Live entertainment will be offered by The Flashback Boyz at the La Quinta Old Town Tap Room and DJ Channy at the La Quinta Brewing Company in Palm Desert.

All the proceeds from the event will go toward Isaiah’s medical expenses. Vasquez said he hopes to raise around $10,000.

“It really is all about helping out Maria,” Vasquez said. “Isaiah benefits from this but the reality is that Isaiah has the disease, but Maria is just, financially, in a bad place... She’s got so much on her plate.”

If patrons don’t want to take part in the loop event, there will be empty jars at all three locations for regular customers to give cash donations.

The family behind the crawl

After Isaiah’s diagnosis, Lopez was forced to take a year and a half off of work with no pay so she could focus her time on his treatment.

By March 2017, her house was nearing foreclosure. The bills were piling up, Isaiah was not done with his treatment and, since she couldn’t find support from those close to her, she was forced to ask for help.

Lopez turned to KESQ and asked for the community’s help in raising funds to save her house from foreclosure. Many organizations answered the call, among them were Vasquez and Babe’s Bar-B-Que & Brewhouse, who hosted a fundraiser at the time and played a key role in saving their house.

Today, Lopez said she is grateful to have saved her house earlier this year. But her inability to work regularly due to Isaiah’s continuing treatment, as well as other expenses, means the family is far from out of the woods.

Thankfully, she said, the upcoming craft beer loop event funds will help them get by until the end of Isaiah’s treatment in 2018.

“I say family becomes strangers and strangers become family,” Lopez said. “Art (Vasquez)’s been amazing. He’s always checking on us and we go and visit them at the restaurant and, I mean they’re great.”

Lopez said Isaiah and her family will be at the event to say thanks to everyone for helping out.

“I want to say thanks to all the restaurants, companies and people who have joined us to make this fundraiser possible,” Lopez said in an email in Spanish. “We invite everyone to please come join us for this event, buy your tickets. You can’t miss the delicious and cold beers from the two La Quinta Brewery sites, and the delicious food and beers from Babe’s...We are so grateful to everyone.”

For more information go to Hops 4 Isaiah’s event Facebook page. You can purchase tickets here.

Jose Alejandro Bastidas is the food and drinks reporter and producer for The Desert Sun. You can reach him at Jose.Bastidas@DesertSun.com or on Twitter @jabastidas

IF YOU GO

Hops 4 Isaiah

Where: Babe’s Bar-B-Que & Brewhouse (71800 CA-111, Rancho Mirage, CA 92270); La Quinta Brewing Company Palm Desert (77917 Wildcat Dr, Palm Desert, CA 92211); La Quinta Old Town Tap Room (78-065 Main St #100, La Quinta, CA 92253).

When Saturday, October 28 from noon to 4 p.m.

Tickets: $59 regular price; $69 VIP.

For more information and to purchase tickets go to the Hops 4 Isaiah Facebook page.