SALISBURY — Sometimes, all you need to do to impact your community positively is enjoy a beer.

Over the weekend, crowds flocked to New Sarum Brewing in Downtown Salisbury for Bands, Brews & BBQ Fest, a fundraising event supporting the Terrie Hess Child Advocacy Center.

“It went really well, and we were super pleased with the turnout,” said Erin Moody, a prevention and education coordinator and therapy dog handler at the Terrie Hess Child Advocacy Center.

It was the second year that the organization held the event.

“I’d say we had about twice the people we did last year,” Moody said. “Since it is an annual event, we hope to continue seeing it grow.”

This year, the organizers set out to raise $10,000.

“They hit their goal, and that was the point,” said Andy Maben, co-owner of New Sarum Brewing.

The event employed numerous mechanisms to reach that goal, including raffling off gift baskets donated by various businesses.

Daisy Lemke is a member of the Downtown Salisbury Bar and Restaurant Guild and the bar manager at SHUG’S at Brooklyn South Square. She indicated that the raffle baskets had grown in the event’s second year.

“We started the raffle last year as an opportunity to raise more funds for the event,” Lemke said. “It ended up working out. Most of the items were donated. Last year, we had four baskets, but this year we invited businesses to sponsor their own baskets or contribute items to shared baskets. We ended up having 13 raffle baskets.”

According to Moody, the raffle tickets contributed more than $6,000 toward the event’s goal.

Lemke added, “Last year, we raised $3,480 (on the baskets), so I’m glad we were able to almost double that.”

It wasn’t just the raffle event that grew, however.

“We had a lot more lawn chairs,” Moody said. “We had two food trucks this year and four bands. New Sarum set up an outside beer tent as well. It grew tremendously from last year, and we were really happy to see that.”

April is Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness Month, which aligns with the Terrie Hess Child Advocacy Center’s mission. It’s also why the organization hosts multiple fundraisers this month. On April 29, it will host the Food Truck Festival at its facility, located at 130 Woodson St. in Salisbury. Proceeds from those types of events help keep its mission alive.

“We have a lot of services here at the child advocacy center, and while we will bill insurance if a family has it, if they don’t, that’s not a problem,” Moody said. “We don’t charge for any of our services, so fundraising is a critical component to make sure Rowan County continues to have its child advocacy center.

“All of our medical exams, running labs for kids and therapy costs, parenting education, it all costs a good amount of money.”

Moody indicated the Terrie Hess Child Advocacy Center had 250 new cases last year.

“We are on course to hit that again this year,” Moody said.

The work that the Terrie Hess Child Advocacy Center conducts for Rowan County youth made volunteering their time an easy decision for bands that performed. Those bands included falllift, David and Bobby Childers, Big Break and Dad Bod. Local musician Duke Wicker also sat in on two sets.

Micah Cottingham of falllift called the opportunity to combine something she loves with a good cause really “special.”

“It’s not just knowing that we’re not only contributing to the atmosphere of the event but also that we are making an impact in a child’s life (that matters),” Cottingham said. “We’re honored to be a part of the event.”

Wicker echoed those sentiments.

“It means a lot to me (to be able to support Terrie Hess),” Wicker said. “What they do over there is good work and is really something that needs to be done. We have got to take care of the children and make sure they are not in bad situations.”

For Maben, providing space for the event and supporting a pillar of the community is part of what he loves about co-owning New Sarum.

“We are a community-driven brewery, and we try to do everything we possibly can to share our community and help it the best we can,” Maben said.

Maben’s not just into beer. He’s a music fan too.

“Every band we bring over here does extremely well,” Maben said. “We are lucky enough to have some really talented people in downtown Salisbury, so why not showcase those.”

Contributing their talent to the Terrie Hess Child Advocacy Center is not limited to the musicians. Maben’s getting in on the giving back, too.

“We have worked with the Terrie Hess organization for quite a while,” Maben said. “We do a beer specifically for them, for the Tis the Season Spectacular Parade. All the proceeds go to buying kids Christmas presents.”

During the event, Lemke and other Downtown Salisbury Bar and Restaurant Guild members presented the Terrie Hess House with nearly $1,000 raised by efforts from a St. Patrick’s Day Bar Crawl that numerous establishments participated in.

“We ended up raising $885,” Lemke said. “We’re trying to organize four bar crawls each year. Last meeting, we decided that we would drink for a good cause, so we decided to change the nonprofit each time.”

The next bar crawl is scheduled for May 5 and will be Star Wars themed. The nonprofit selected for that fundraiser is Happy Roots.