34 - Kevin Crowe & Stephen Lowden

This episode of Let’s Meet For A Beer is a double feature with Kevin Crowe of Give A Mile and Stephen Lowden of the Pig & Duke pub. In addition to our usual dive into their histories we also talk about how Pig & Duke is partnering with Give a Mile to help give families the gift of a final visit with their loved ones.

Kevin was first introduced to Stephen when he was looking for a venue to hold an early fundraiser for Give A Mile. Stephen and his wife Jo have been operating the Pig & Duke since 2012 and while they’ve always been a fixture of the community Stephen had long wanted to attach themselves to a charitable cause that they could support in ways beyond just writing a cheque each month. Kevin had approached a friend at Red Bison Brewing about putting together a craft beer focused fundraiser and they needed a venue. As it turned out he knew just the guy….

Stephen’s pub opened in early 2012 after only 62 days of construction after Stephen had fallen in love with the province of Alberta. Having always wanted to own a pub and spent most of his life working in pubs and bars across Western Canada he would put down roots in what once might have been considered a cursed location, having notoriously been a site of businesses that just couldn’t seem to make a go of and stay open for more than three years. However the Pig & Duke has proudly long since broken the curse and now has two locations in Calgary and constantly fields questions about expanding outside of Calgary in a franchise model. However this hasn’t happened just yet as Stephen explains his worries about diluting their brand by no longer being able to have a personal presence in each location.

Kevin first came to Alberta in 1997 on a work term while attending the University of Victoria. He came out expecting to only be here for six weeks, met the woman who is now his wife while he was out here, and 22 years later that temporary six week trip to Alberta still hasn’t come to an end. His inspiration for starting Give A Mile came about after losing a close friend, Ryan, to brain cancer at 36. Kevin describes the amazing year and a half he spent with a man who knew he was dying and how through that experience he learned the power of visit. While his friend was in hospice care he would see other families saying their final goodbyes over the phone because they couldn’t make the flight to Calgary, and shortly after heard about a statistic that 16 billion travel miles go unredeemed each year in Canada. Kevin would then found Give A Mile and 11 years later Ryan’s legacy lives on through this 100% volunteer run organization.

In those 11 years Give A Mile has donated more than 620 flights with the help of community leaders like Stephen, and this year they’re taking it to a whole new level with The Gift Gala on November 14th. Their goal is to raise enough funds and travel miles to donate an additional 60 flights before Christmas. You can help support this cause by buying a ticket to The Gift Gala on GIve A Mile’s Website, participating in their Flight Hero program, donating through their website to a specific flight for a family in need, or even just sharing their message on social media.

Let’s Meet For A Beer!

Alberta Beer Festivals: website | twitter | instagram

Give a Mile: website | twitter | instagram

Pig & Duke: website | twitter | instag