Package store lifts spirits to raise money for breast cancer research
Grand Wine and Spirits has presented the Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation with a check for more than $10,000 to help fund research to find a cure for breast cancer.
Owner Chuck Bowe and his crew of workers at five stores, along with corporate sponsors, raised $10,182 during the annual Pink Ribbon campaign in October. A donation was made to the foundation for every bottle of alcohol and wine that was sold with a pink ribbon on it.
Bowe and his employees recently presented a check to Amy Caster, director of Development and Outreach at the foundation. It is the 11th year the package store has donated to TBBCF. 
“A huge thank you to a local business,” said Patti Burmahl, president of the TBBCF Board of Directors. “They have been an amazing supporter for years..”
Bowe also thanked the Pink Ribbon campaign sponsors, including Kendall Jackson, Jim Beam, Samuel Adams, Knob Creek, Maker’s Mark, Laphroaig, Suntory Whiskey and Basil Hayden.
Last year, the business made a $9,419 donation, and the foundation honored Bowe with membership to the 27th Mile Club. The foundation’s largest fundraiser is a 26.2-mile walking marathon from Old Saybrook to Harkness Memorial State Park in Waterford. The 27th Mile Club was established to recognize those who routinely go above and beyond on a regular basis to help the foundation.
During the first four years of the promotion, Grand Wine and Spirits raised more than $10,000. In 2016, the business donated wine, beer, soft drinks, water, and a champagne toast to help celebrate the foundation’s 10th anniversary. The following year in 2017, it ran a Super Bowl raffle for a plasma TV and donated the proceeds to TBBCF and Child and Family Agency in New London. Through annual
fundraisers and in-kind sponsorships over the past 10 years, Grand Wine and Spirits has raised about $80,000 for the foundation.
Bowe has said he chose TBBCF to receive the annual donation from the Pink Ribbon campaign because it is a local organization that helps the community. Breast cancer affects so many people, he said, including the family members of some of his employees.
TBBCF is a New London-based non-profit established in 2006 and is named after Terri Brodeur, a young mother of three who died in 2005 after a two-year battle with breast cancer. Donations can be made to TBBCF, P.O. Box 785, New London, CT 06320 or by visiting tbbcf.org