Buffalo Trace Distillery and UK HealthCare’s Kentucky Children’s Hospital announced a new community-focused mentorship program for Frankfort, Kentucky-area fathers – Fathers of Frankfort. The Kentucky-based organizations partnered to launch this program as a way to strengthen families and address potential child maltreatment, a critical issue in their community.

Drawing inspiration from evidence-based, father-specific programming, Fathers of Frankfort will connect fathers who are currently team members at Buffalo Trace Distillery with new or expecting first-time dads in the local community. Mentors will share their personal parenthood experiences, offer advice and be a resource to help men navigate this major life change.

“An adverse childhood experience such as child maltreatment has a lasting impact on a person’s life, which also significantly impacts our community through increased mental health issues and decreased educational and occupational potential,” Dr. Scottie Day, Physician in Chief at Kentucky Children’s Hospital, said in a news release. “Engaged fathers can change the trajectory of families and a child’s life.” This is especially critical in Frankfort, where 26.6 per 1,000 children experience maltreatment, a rate three times higher than the national average.

The goal of the program is to utilize experienced fathers to engage expecting fathers before their child is born to inspire them to play an active role in their child’s life from birth into adulthood.

“Paternal engagement improves a child’s physical and mental health, including reducing the risk of child maltreatment and improving long-term outcomes,” Day said.

Fifteen Buffalo Trace team members and local dads will be matched as part of the inaugural Fathers of Frankfort mentor class, with a vision to expand classes substantially in the future. New dads who enroll as mentees will also receive gifts throughout the year to help them transition into parenthood, including a custom, one-of-a-kind toy chest made by Buffalo Trace Distillery’s “Whiskey Woodcraft” team.

“It takes a devoted team to help mature the award-winning products at Buffalo Trace Distillery, and it also takes a passionate team to raise a child. Like some of the best things in life, both whiskey and the relationship between a father and child only gets better with age,” Sara Saunders, Head of Marketing at Buffalo Trace Distillery, said. “We are honored to work alongside Kentucky Children’s Hospital to help the dads in our community raise children who mature into supported, engaged, and successful adults.”

Additionally, Buffalo Trace Distillery will support Fathers of Frankfort by donating dollars and product for charitable initiatives to aid program-specific resources and personnel, including a dedicated licensed clinical social worker within the Kosair for Kids Center for Safe and Healthy Children and Families at Kentucky Children’s Hospital to oversee the initiative.

An immediate opportunity to support Fathers of Frankfort will come in July for the 2023 Coaches for the Kids fundraiser dinner, hosted by the Coaches for the Kids Foundation and University of Kentucky Football Coach Mark Stoops.

As part of the fundraiser, Buffalo Trace Distillery will donate an ultra-rare O.F.C. Vintage 3-bottle flight, including OFC ‘93, OFC ‘94, and OFC ’95, for auction. Fundraiser attendees can bid on the flight featuring some of the oldest vintage-dated bourbons ever released, with each bottle dated according to the year the bourbon was distilled at Buffalo Trace Distillery. The OFC ’93 bottle is one of only 822 ever produced and the second offered for sale, while OFC ’94 is one of less than 1,100 bottles of the expression and just the third ever offered for sale. The OFC ’95 up for bidding is only one of 1,500 bottles released. Each vintage is hand bottled in a crystal decanter with inlaid copper lettering in an upscale wooden display box.

Applications for Fathers of Frankfort are open to Buffalo Trace Distillery team members now through June 23. Mentees will be selected through a referral process coordinated by UK HealthCare. Chosen mentor applicants will be notified throughout the summer with the program slated to kick off in fall 2023. For more information on the Fathers of Frankfort program, please contact [email protected].

Fathers of Frankfort is an additional extension of Buffalo Trace Distillery’s ongoing charitable endeavors. Last year, the Distillery provided 2,022 bottles of its finest whiskies to charitable organizations, raising over $2.1 million. This year, Buffalo Trace Distillery plans to reintroduce its Nonprofit Partnership program by donating 100 sets of bourbon from its portfolio to philanthropic corporations worldwide for fundraising purposes.

For more information, visit https://www.buffalotracedistillery.com/.