Brimson Strong nonprofit featured in Castle Danger Brewing’s Pints for a Cause

TWO HARBORS, Minn.– After the massive Brimson Complex fire took out a large portion of the northern St Louis County area, efforts are still strong to help towns such as Brimson rebuild.

Since then, a nonprofit called “Brimson Strong” lead by founder Mikala Schliep has dedicated time and effort to help her community.

The fire also affected Schliep, as it took the lives of all of her chickens except one. But luckily, her home survived.

Seeing the devastation affect Brimson, she knew she needed to step up.

“I myself live in Brimson, and I barely got out of the fire myself, and I watched my neighbor’s house go up in flames, and that was way too close for comfort for me, and so I was already navigating the loss of the fire, but I still had a home,” said Schliep, “If everybody has to go through the same thing, why not pass that forward? So that’s where it kind of started.”

Since then, the nonprofit has raised over $25,000.

That being said, the wounds are tough to heal, and Schliep says, it’s expensive too.

“To put that into scale for people for like 10 acres, you’re looking at $17-$30,000 and then all of these places were grandfathered in for their septic’s, and so you’re looking at a brand new septic too, so 20 to 40 grand or more, and having to start over on top of doing a full rebuild,” said Schliep.

On Friday January 23rd, Castle Danger Brewing out in Two Harbors is kicking off their first “Pints for a Cause” fundraiser of the year.

The event will go from 6 PM-9 PM.

And they’re starting out strong, by highlighting Brimson Strong.

“It’s super special. Something that is really an awesome part of being at Castle Danger is building community and coming together. And one way to do that is to support these nonprofits. So, it’s always a really fun day for me when we get to work with these nonprofits and just kind of celebrate the community,” said Caleb Knudsen, Taproom Events Manager, Castle Danger Brewing.