Coastal Delaware – with its beaches, state parks, lakes, bays, forests and coastal plains – is where we work and play, and we’re grateful as can be to all the people who work to make it an even better place.

In that spirit, we recently threw down our annual challenge to local nonprofits: Tell us your mission and how you do what you do, and we just might give you $15,000 to put toward your work.

The nonprofit community responded, and we had the pleasure of giving a few a helping hand. Our big winner was The Marine Education, Research and Rehabilitation Institute Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to the conservation of marine mammals and sea turtles. MERR takes home the top $10,000 award.

“The Benevolence Committee is proud to have chosen MERR as the recipient of this year’s award,” says Mark Carter, Dogfish Head’s Beer & Benevolence Guru. “Their grassroots origins of literally starting in a bath tub just up the street from the brewery, and the fact that they are driven by an almost all-volunteer staff that responds 24/7 really resonated with the committee.” 

We also gave $2,500 each to Delaware Greenways, committed to promoting outdoor connections for healthy, vibrant, sustainable communities throughout the First State, and the Delaware chapter of Surfrider Foundation. Surfrider is dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the Delaware beaches, waves and estuaries, for all people, through conservation, activism, research and education.

The three beneficiaries also will receive a "Benevolence Night" at Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats in Rehoboth Beach, Del., and the nonprofit with the best turnout will receive an additional $5,000.

So, mark your calendars and support your favorite nonprofit:

• Feb. 18: MERR
• March 18: Surfrider Foundation
• April 15: Delaware Greenways

Stay tuned for more big things from our Beer & Benevolence program in 2015! 

“The Benevolence Awards program is evolving a little each year, and Dogfish is excited to help out Mother Earth this year,” says Carter. “The committee will come together again and determine what the 2015 benevolence awards challenge will be.”