Lake Hopatcong Regional News

Podcast

"We'll Take it From Here, with Joe and Don"
Episode 74. Dad and Ryan's Birch Beer: You're Never Too Young to Reach for the Stars

This week we sat down and spoke with the founders of Dad and Ryan's Birch Beer LLC, Ryan and Mike Kovach. Mike and Ryan are father and son, who set out on an adventure when they opened their own birch beer company out of their home-kitchen in 2018. The story began when Ryan, who is now fifteen years old, would help his father at the firehouse by washing the fire trucks; as "payment" for his services, Ryan would enjoy some birch beer. Ryan fell in love with the taste and decided that the best way for him to enjoy some more would be to make his own. In true entrepreneurial fashion, Ryan and his Dad started from scratch and through rigorous trial and error, found the perfect recipe. While the story of a fifteen-year-old entrepreneur is impressive, the mission behind the company is incredible as a portion of the proceeds goes toward Unique https://rarechromo.org/, an organization who supports those affected by rare chromosome and gene disorders. We really enjoyed hearing Ryan's story and learning more about his life and goals for the future of his company. To support Dad and Ryan's Birch Beer, you can go to bestbirchbeer.com or visit the Dad and Ryan's Birch Beer Facebook page to learn more about their mission. Sit back and enjoy the show!

Podcast

"We'll Take it From Here, with Joe and Don"
Episode 66: Every Storm Has Its Purpose

This week we welcome back to the show Anthony Bongiovanni from episode 42. I strongly suggest listening to his story there if you have not already. In addition, we include our cameraman, and Anthony's childhood friend, Jonny Brown in the discussion. The theme of today's show was about making changes /sacrifices in your life for the better. Anthony shared his improvements to both his mental and physical health over the past few months. We speak about his social media hiatus and the mental clarity which it brought in that he realized that everything that is important is found in his everyday life. We also touch upon the importance of taking care of your physical health because as we see in society, people have let themselves go to unhealthy lifestyles and that it is imperative that this changes. Finally, we share some of the changes you, the audience, have made and its benefits.