CHARLOTTE — As the former co-founder of Sycamore Brewing is in jail accused of raping a teenage girl, a resource center in Union County is helping the company turn over a new leaf without him.
Turning Point in Monroe helps survivors of sexual assault. Its executive director told Channel 9’s Gina Esposito she met with a marketing representative at Sycamore Brewing, now called Club West Brewing, and gave her advice on ways to support the victims in a genuine way.
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“I told her a lot about supporting her employees, that’s the big thing for me,” said Jessie Lindberg with Turning Point.
Lindberg says she advised their marketing representative against doing anything too public-facing. Instead, she said to focus on subtle changes to help sexual assault victims get access to resources.
“Maybe putting something on the back of a bathroom stall that has phone numbers that they can more discreetly get access to,” Lindberg said. “You know, reaching people where they are, and not necessarily flying banners saying we support agencies, because you want it to be genuine and actually move the needle on supporting survivors.”
The former co-founder of Sycamore, Justin Brigham, was arrested in December for allegedly raping a 13-year-old girl. His then-wife said she was filing for divorce and that Brigham would be divested from Sycamore Brewing’s business. Since then, Sycamore has rebranded as Club West Brewing.
Lindberg says 602 victims of child sexual abuse received free services through Turning Point last year. After Brigham’s arrest, some businesses said they’d donate Sycamore beer sales to the nonprofit -- but as of Monday, Lindberg says only one brewery had done so. That was Peddler’s Paradise Bartique.
Lindberg says she believes Sycamore sees that it’s not all about the money.
“I really think they want to make something good out of this, and I think reaching out to me was probably a great thing,” Lindberg said.
Lindberg said she recently reached back out to the brewery to get an update, but she hasn’t heard back.
Brigham’s next court appearance is scheduled for May 18.
Turning Point Monroe has two crisis assistance lines, one for domestic violence (804-283-7233) and another for sexual assault (704-283-7770). They are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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