Boro Beverages creates kombucha to raise money for local migrant families

For local business owner Carly Erickson, her beverage company has always been about more than just creating great-tasting drinks. 

Erickson's company, Boro Beverages, makes kombucha and other probiotic beverages, and also seeks to create change and positively impact the community. One of the ways she is hoping to positively impact the Chapel Hill-Carrboro community is with her new line of kombucha called This Will Help.

According to a press release about the new drink line, This Will Help “will benefit vulnerable local families who are threatened with detention and deportation.” 

The line is being produced by Christine Abernathy, a Carrboro resident, in conjunction with Erickson and her company. Abernathy had the idea to raise money to help families facing deportation after visiting a detention center last summer.

“When I visited an immigrant detention center in March I had no idea what people in this country are going through and what we as taxpayers are financing,” Abernathy said in an email. “I can’t stand by and watch people hurting from a system that I am privileged enough to know nothing about, and I know so many folks I’ve talked to feel the same way.”

Erickson said that Abernathy was initially introduced to her by a mutual friend, and then approached her about creating a beverage line as a way to raise money for local families who were facing deportation.

“When she came back she was trying to figure out a way to get money to families that are being affected, specifically women whose husbands were being sent off and they were left behind having to take care of their kids,” Erickson said. "She was trying to come up with ideas of what to do, and she brews kombucha, so she came to me."

Erickson also said that she decided to partake in Abernathy’s project because it fits in with her mission to positively impact the local community.

“I am a socially responsible company and try to do as much as I can for the community and so it was definitely up my ally as far as what our mission and values are,” she said.

Erickson said that 100 percent of the proceeds from the line will be going directly to families facing deportation in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro community. Instead of donating all the proceeds to one specific organization that will distribute them, Boro Beverages will be distributing the funds directly to families. Erickson said that the first batch of proceeds will be going to Maria Huerta, who lives in Carrboro.

According to the press release, “(Huerta's) fiancé Jocsan was detained by ICE through a collaboration with the Orange County Sheriff’s office. Jocsan was deported after months at Stewart Detention Center, a center notorious for human rights violations, neglect and abuse. Currently undergoing a high-risk pregnancy, Huerta is now left with a soon-to-be family of four without counting on the financial support of her fiancé.”

Erickson said that this project is keeping with Boro Beverages' mission to be active in the local community. Boro’s name comes from the surrounding communities such as Carrboro, Pittsboro and Greensboro and illustrates its commitment to strengthening the community.

"We will see results right away because its going to stay small and all the money is going to people right here in Carrboro and Chapel Hill,” she said.

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