Holiday giving leads to medical debt relief

Special to the Coshocton Tribune
·2 min read

COSHOCTON − A collaboration between Wooly Pig Farm Brewery and Coshocton Regional Medical Center has allowed approximately $500 in medical debt to be forgiven for 101 patients in Coshocton County.

Kevin Ely and Jael Malenke, owners of the Wooly Pig Farm Brewery, with Kaylee Andrews, director of business development and marketing, and Gerry Breen, CFO, of Coshocton Regional Medical Center are shown as donation of $8,784 by the brewery was given to the hospital to help forgive medical debts.
Kevin Ely and Jael Malenke, owners of the Wooly Pig Farm Brewery, with Kaylee Andrews, director of business development and marketing, and Gerry Breen, CFO, of Coshocton Regional Medical Center are shown as donation of $8,784 by the brewery was given to the hospital to help forgive medical debts.

For the past four years, in the spirit of Christmas gift giving, Wooly Pig has donated the proceeds from its Holiday Lager sales to local nonprofit organizations that help those in need. In 2022, the brewery decided to donate all of the income, with no exclusions for supply costs, from those sales. After much family discussion, medical debt forgiveness rose to the top of their local needs list. Jael Malenke, co-owner of Wooly Pig, contacted CRMC and an agreement was struck.

Wooly Pig donated $5,878.40 with the hospital multiplying the proceeds by 10 for a total amount of $58,784 going to medical debt relief. About 10% of the brewery's donation came from patrons without a Holiday Lager purchase.

Malenke said it was a win-win situation for the brewery, whose aim was to assist local people in need and for the hospital, whose mission is to care for its patients with the highest level of dedication, quality and compassion.

“We share the same mission here, to invest in our local community," said Kaylee Andrews, director of Business Development and Marketing for CRMC.

The Wooly Pig Farm Brewery is located in Fresno on what was, for more than 150 years, the Norman family farm. Malenke, who grew up a mile from the farm, and her spouse, brewmaster Kevin Ely, moved to Fresno in 2016 and began building the brewery a year later.

“It was a big change, moving back to Coshocton after years living in a big city, but we love being part of this supportive, small-town community and building relationships with patrons and local institutions, like the Coshocton Regional Medical Center," Malenke said. "It’s these relationships and the connectivity of smaller communities that allowed us to work with the hospital to creatively target local needs.”

Information and photo submitted by Jael Malenke.

This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Holiday giving leads to medical debt relief