Brewery pledges to brew special beer for local cause

PATASKALA – A Watkins Memorial freshman worried about proposed budget reductions looming over her district asked a well-known Watkins graduate for help, one who just so happens to be the CEO and co-founder of Stone Brewing Co.

Ally Jeffers, a 15-year-old student at Watkins, wrote a letter to Greg Koch outlining her fears about the fate of a renewal 7.8-mill emergency operating levy Southwest Licking Local Schools placed on the May 5 ballot.

Koch grew up in Pataskala and graduated from Watkins Memorial in 1982 before co-founding Stone, a famed craft brewery that is one of the fastest growing breweries in America.

Upon reading Jeffers’ impassioned letter, Koch pledged $1,000 to a Go Fund Me page Jeffers helped spearhead to fund her school’s band, art and theater programs. He also vowed Stone would brew a special beer to support Jeffers’ cause, with one significant catch: Voters must approve the levy.

“To help move the needle at the polls, Stone will pledge to brew a special beer specifically to support this cause. ... if the measure passes,” Koch wrote in a letter to Jeffers. “Once it does, we will work with local bars and restaurants to donate 100% of the sales from the specially brewed Pataskala beer so that the proceeds will go directly to add to the kitty that the levy passage will fund.”

Jeffers plays trumpet in the Watkins band, and she decided to write Koch a letter after a discussion with her mother, Stacie.

The discussion revolved around the levy, and Southwest Licking’s promise to cut $2 million from the budget if voters defeat it. The list of reductions, which would become effective for the 2015-16 school year, includes teaching positions, high school busing, and all extra- and co-curricular activities, including band and sports.

Ally Jeffers struggled in school until she joined the band.

For that reason, she does not want to see it eliminated, and she referenced her fears in her letter to Koch.

“I read that you also never felt like you fit in here,” Ally Jeffers wrote, referencing a 2014 interview in which Koch said he did not fit in while growing up in Pataskala. “Well neither did I until I joined the band. In the band I just felt welcome and safe. I finally found my second family. This was the place where I could really just be me. ...”

The youngster also referenced in her letter the district’s recently-grim history with tax issues.

Voters in recent years have defeated a building issue, in addition to a substitute emergency operating levy.

Ally Jeffers mailed her letter two months ago, and after realizing she forgot to include her contact information she harbored few illusions Koch would reach out to her.

“It’s just like another one of these things where usually you reach out to someone and they don’t get back to you, they consider it a small thing,” she said.

Koch did not consider the youngster’s concerns “a small thing.”

As soon as he could track her down, he did.

Speaking Tuesday from Stone’s Escondido, California headquarters, Koch said he was influenced by the fact Ally Jeffers attends the same school he attended. He also was impressed by the professional nature of her letter.

“Honestly, her letter was really well written,” he said.

A month of brainstorming led him to pitch brewing a special beer for the election effort.

“It’s sort of a message to folks in Pataskala, (that) if you step up to the plate, I’ll step up to the plate,” he said.

If voters approve the levy, Koch on Tuesday reaffirmed Stone would brew a special beer. It would sell the limited-edition beer in local restaurants and bars that are amenable with Stone’s decision to donate 100 percent of the proceeds to a still-to-be-determined cause benefiting local students. Pataskala-area establishments would get first dibs on the sure-to-be-in-demand beer.

Koch estimated the donation could approach $30,000.

Reflecting on his time at Watkins, Koch said he benefited from some of the school’s course offerings.

Southwest Licking, however, is proposing to eliminate a number of teachers and course offerings, in addition to co-curricular and extra-curricular activities.

At the high school alone, the school board is proposing to eliminate an art teacher, a family and consumer science teacher, a math teacher, a science teacher and an English teacher. The board also is proposing to cut a music position and foreign language position, among other positions, at the neighboring middle school, in addition to all field trips.

“. ... A donation won’t fix the problem at this point,” wrote Koch in his letter to Ally Jeffers, referencing his Go Fund Me pledge. “It will require something more substantial. To that end, let’s reach out to the people of the Pataskala community, urging fellow community members to act on this issue clearly and vote in favor of the levy to allow young people to explore school-funded educational and artistic ventures. Without such opportunities, it’s likely I may never have had the confidence to pursue my goals. And seeing how band has helped you to come out of your shell further illustrates just how essential it and the other endangered programs are.”

Stacie Jeffers said she was floored by Koch’s response to her daughter’s letter.

The youngster’s father, Roger, overheard the pair talking about ways to convince voters to approve the levy, and he referenced Koch and his Watkins connection. That led Ally Jeffers to write him.

“I truly, truly can’t believe it has evolved into this,” Stacie Jeffers said. “Her father and I could not be more proud of her. We stood in the kitchen, and she said, ‘I’m not going to let this happen. I’m not going to let this levy fail. I love the band.’ She just kept saying, ‘I have to do something.’”

As for Koch, Stacie Jeffers was impressed he wrote back to her daughter with a pledge to do what he could to help the campaign effort.

“For him to agree to help, I think that speaks volumes on his character,” she said. “She’s just a kid, too. He didn’t have to do this.”

Koch, for his part, said he may fly back to Pataskala to have a drink of the specially-brewed beer, should voters approve the levy.

In his letter to Ally Jeffers, he also said he would welcome the opportunity to one day meet her “. ... and maybe even enjoy a nice trumpet solo.”