Robyn Schumacher's childhood home in Spokane burned down this week.
By Thursday, Aug. 6, the Stoup Brewing co-owner and her Ballard neighbors had collected 15,000 pounds of food, hygiene products and pet supplies to send east.
The Spokane Complex Fire, which ignited Saturday, Aug. 1, has destroyed nearly 850 structures and displaced about 67,000 people.
Washington State Department of Natural Resources spokesperson Michael Kelly called it "likely one of the most destructive" fire in state history, NBC News reported. Schumacher grew up in Spokane, and her family still lives there under an evacuation notice.
She told the Washington Beer Blog that more than five people she knows personally have lost homes, including a friend who lost his own home in one neighborhood and his mother's home in another.
Within three days of Stoup's Aug. 3 Instagram call for donations, more than 50 Seattle-area businesses and hundreds of individuals dropped off canned goods, toiletries and pet food at collection points across western Washington. Stoup's four taprooms in Ballard, Kenmore, SeaTac City and Capitol Hill all served as drop-off sites, alongside co-organizer Holy Mountain Brewing and more than 20 other breweries and shops.
Nathan Kowsky of Stoup Brewing said the response filled an entire U-Haul that departed for Spokane Thursday morning, timed to a group of westside brewers already heading east for the Grainmaker Festival. Seven pallets of goods still await transport.
Among the businesses that joined the drive: Lucky Envelope Brewing, Cloudburst Brewing, Reuben's Brews, Old Stove Brewing (all three Seattle locations), Rooftop Brewing, Sunny Hill Pizza, Marination Columbia City and The Beer Junction. Trap Door Brewing in Vancouver, Wash., ran a parallel effort and also headed to Spokane with supplies.
The physical supply drive has concluded, but Kowsky said Stoup may organize another round depending on what Spokane donation centers can accept. Monetary donations remain open through the H.O.M.E. Starts Here Fund at my.spokanecity.org and the Colville Reservation Fund at zeffy.com. Stoup also accepts donations in person at the brewery.
As of Wednesday, Aug. 5, the three fires making up the Spokane Complex — Old Trails, Autumn Lane and Fairview — had burned 10,546 acres. Containment stood at 13% for the first two and 5% for Fairview, with more than 1,500 firefighters from two dozen states on the lines.







