This Smyrna distillery is turning 3 and raising money for STEM education

Nestled within a renovated theater in Smyrna, Painted Stave Distilling has been churning out vodka, gin and whiskey. This November marks Mike Rasmussen and Ron Gomes’ third year of working together under the Painted Stave name, but they don’t want to celebrate alone. Which is why they’ve taken the opportunity to host a charity auction at the same time.
In partnership with the Delaware AeroSpace Education Foundation, Painted Stave will host a silent auction with unique items for sale to benefit STEM education. The items will consist of old staves (or barrels) that have been transformed by 15 regional artists. Delaware Public Media has a slideshow of some of the items.
“Ron and I both are interested in education and academia, we knew upfront that we wanted to find a nonprofit we could partner with in a lot of our work,” Rasmussen said. “Our business plan includes donating a certain percentage to a nonprofit. We wanted to work with STEM nonprofits, especially those that target young girls. So we decided we wanted to host an auction.”
The third anniversary event takes place Saturday, Nov. 12.