CHICOPEE, Mass. - P.J. Hurtado and some of his friends are really putting themselves out there for a fundraising effort which could turn some heads.
"I had to close my eyes a lot of the time," said his wife, Kim.
The Hurtados turned to Facebook during the pandemic to create a group called Beer Bro's of Mass. It's a way to have fun, deliver beer to strangers, share some humor and do random acts of kindness.
"I think that is what the entire page stands for stands for," said Kim. "Positive vibes only. It's the whole concept of giving back, and community and helping one another."
A post about the trend of men posing with their beer bellies in maternity photos sparked an idea for a men's calendar.
"Then it clicked, we can't do events, we can't do a lot of things so we decided to do this to raise money and we found a charity that meant something to this area with the holidays coming," P.J. said.
They made 250 calendars and are selling them for $20 each. All the proceeds are going to Lorraine's Soup Kitchen and Pantry. Every month in the calendar is sponsored by a different local business. Each photo is truly unique, some leaving very little to the imagination.
"I took all the pictures, I did all the photography and I'm not a photographer so that was fun and interesting because the pictures are very interesting," Kim said.
They are more than halfway to their goal of raising $5,000 for Lorraine's. The Hurtado's said it took a team effort. This isn't the group's first fundraiser for charity and they said it definitely won't be their last.
"A lot of men aren't wearing a lot of clothes in these me being one of them, but it was funny," said P.J.. "I wanted people to see everything about beer bros and realize it's who we are, we are funny, we do a lot of things that are fun, we try to make people laugh, this calendar does that and they are selling quick, and they are raising a lot of money so it is best of all the worlds combined."
The group is planning to do a women's calendar soon and will be picking out a different organization to donate the money raised from that project.
More information on the group and to purchase a calendar can be found here.