Distillery Changes Business in Response to COVID-19, Helping Local Community
After COVID-19 closed the tasting room of 3 Hundred Days of Shine, owner Michael Girard changed his business from making moonshine to hand sanitizer. What he didn't realize was the great need for hand sanitizer in his local community, and how his business could help.
In these challenging times, our cooperative principle of Concern for Community has greater meaning than ever before. Across our cooperative family, amazing work is being done by businesses, organizations, and individuals to support our communities in this time of need. As part of this series, we highlight those outstanding people who have gone above and beyond.
Mountain View Electric Association (MVEA) serves portions of eight counties located within a 5,000 square mile territory in Colorado. Across this service territory, many members of MVEA have been affected by COVID-19 in some way, shape or form.
In the Monument, Colo. community, local distillery 3 Hundred Days of Shine makes their liquor the same as Colorado moonshiners did 80 to 90 years ago. But when faced with a modern pandemic, owner Michael Girard needed a new way to earn revenue once their tasting room was closed. Switching to making hand sanitizer seemed a good way to continue sales, and Michael soon discovered how badly his community needed additional sterilization equipment. Michael is able to donate the equivalent of what they sell out of the tasting room to first-responders and others who are in need in their community.
To learn how 3 Hundred Days of Shine is helping their local community, watch the video below.
Read the Inspiring Story of How Moonshine Can Help During a Pandemic
"So whatever bottles we sell out of the tasting room we donate the equivalent to our first responders, to care providers, nursing homes, things like that." - Michael Girard
Michael Girard: I can't speak enough to that small town feel that you have. Pretty awesome to see the support that we've been getting. Sixty percent of our profit margin comes from the tasting room, we weren't sure what was gonna happen.
I was deployed in Afghanistan and that's where I made my first batch of liquor. I wanted to do something truly traditional Colorado. We use the same materials and a lot of the same processes Colorado moonshiners were doing here 80, 90 years ago.
We decided to do hand sanitizer because we were trying to figure out ways to increase revenue. What we found out though was the need for this hand sanitizer was much greater than we ever expected.
So whatever bottles we sell out of the tasting room we donate the equivalent to our first responders, care providers, nursing homes, things like that. But that's why we're doing this. We wanna try and give back to the community and we're gonna keep doing it for as long as it's needed.
COVID-19 Community Response
As a family of electric cooperatives and public power districts, our distribution members reach consumers at the end of the line, many of whom have been directly impacted by COVID-19. To learn about our response, how our members are responding and the amazing work being done in communities across the West, watch our videos and read the articles here.
--
About Tri-State
Tri-State is a power supply cooperative, operating on a not-for-profit basis, serving electric distribution cooperatives and public power district member-owners in four states. Together with our members, we deliver reliable, affordable and responsible power to more than a million electricity consumers across nearly 200,000 square miles of the West. Visit www.tristate.coop.