Sunday at The Beer Shack saw the launch of 'Kindness Matters' Pale Ale, a collaboration between Yardley Brothers and ImpactHK, a charity focused on proving support and friendship to Hong Kong's homeless community. ImpactHK started life as a personal project for Founder and CEO Jeff Rotmeyer. Homelessness was always a cause close to Jeff's heart, which gave him the idea of performing an act of kindness each month in an effort to help the homeless population in the city. Initially he would walk through vulnerable areas handing supplies to those in need, and lending a friendly ear to listen without judgement. Once he started reaching out for volunteers to assist with these walks - now affectionately known as 'Kindness Walks' - he was inundated with offers of help, and ImpactHK was officially born. This simple yet powerful concept, coinciding with the challenges in HK in recent years, has proven a key ingredient in the success of ImpactHK, which despite its relative infancy has continued to go from strength to strength. It now conducts around 70 walks per month, provides over 3000 meals a week, and has provided shelter for over 300 of Hong Kong's homeless. Kindness Matters Pale Ale was the brainchild of Lamma resident Scott Taylor. A long-time supporter of ImpactHK, Scott and his company Webbe International were looking for ways to help the charity through fundraising. Also an active member of Lamma Homebrew Club (a collective of keen amateur beer makers on the island) the appeal of combining two of his passions quickly took hold, and after pitching the idea to Luke Yardley - co-founder of Lamma's most famous craft brewers, the Yardley Brothers - the project sprang to life.

Deriving its name from ImpactHK's slogan, Kindness Matters is a light and refreshing pale ale produced by Yardley Brothers, with all profits from its sale going directly to the charity. The unique label design was created by Annamarjin de Boer, chosen by popular vote following submissions from 4 Lamma residents. Its popularity have been evident, with the original batch of 2000 bottles selling out prior to last Sunday, and 2 kegs selling out in record time at The Beer Shack at Sunday's event. Scott opened the event to a full house, with a speech about the background and progress of the project, as well as highlighting the longer term goal of making Kindness Matters available in more bars throughout Hong Kong, providing an ongoing and sustainable cashflow for ImpactHK. Scott was followed by Greg March, another long-time Lammaite who has recently joined ImpactHK as Business Development Manager. Greg thanked all those involved with the project, highlighting ImpactHK's mission and vision and how people can get involved to help. Greg was also manning a popup store selling Kindness Matters t-shirts, caps and ground coffee, all of which are available online or directly from ImpactHK's charity outlet store 1ofaKind, located in Jordan. If you're interested in getting involved with ImpactHK, please visit their website at https://impacthk.org/