- February 8, 2025
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On July 29, Christmas will be coming to Port Orange, complete with Santa, Mrs. Claus, and of course, a sleigh.
The "Christmas in July" event, held at the Tomoka Brewing Company, is being set up in order to raise funds for local youth whose families are in financial need. The brewery is teaming up with Operation Changing Lives, which focuses on helping provide monetary support so that low-income individuals with severe facial deformities can receive surgery.
According to Cherise Wintz, director of events for Operation Changing Lives, this year's fundraising event will go toward providing Christmas gifts for children within Volusia and Flagler counties in addition to any other needs there may be. This could include backpacks for school or simply supporting a local family financially.
"Operation Changing Lives started with doing facial surgeries for children with cleft palates and social deformities," Wintz said. "And we just kind of are able to reach out into the community for Christmas."
This is the second year that Operation Changing Lives has partnered up with the Tomoka Brewing Company to hold the event in Port Orange. Wintz said they have been able to provide a Christmas experience for about 4,000 children each year in Volusia and Flagler counties.
As for Sue Borwick and her husband Rich McCarthy, the owners of the brewery, deciding to host the event was a way to give back to the community. Borwick, who met Wintz at a fitness bootcamp, said 10 % of the revenue from people who come in to eat and drink during the event will go back to the charity. Borwick said on top of that her husband will personally match whatever is raised and put that into the charity funds as well.
"We like to be involved with the community and it’s something easy that we can do," Borwick said. "Then everybody benefits from it because everybody has a good time."
Borwick said hosting the event at the brewery is an ideal way to support a good cause as it can be hard to make time to volunteer while running a business. There's also another, more personal, reason why Borwick sees the importance of supporting the charity's goal to help cover the financial burden of families taking care of a child who needs facial surgery for a deformity.
"I've known somebody personally that had that with their child and I saw what they went through financially," Borwick said. "So if you can give back any way to help them with their struggles, whethere it be staying at a hotel or anything, that helps them. It's a great way to do it."
4647 Clyde Morris Blvd tomokabrewingco.com
