NAPERVILLE, Ill. — The folks at Go Brewing in Naperville are doing what they love, making their lineup of small-batch craft beers.

The owner’s claim to fame is making beverages that taste great, but in the words of Joe Chura, won’t leave you feeling like crap.

“The main reason is I had an issue with alcohol,” Joe said.

Conceived during the height of the pandemic, when Joe and his wife, Heather, like so many of us, felt socially isolated, they started to drink in excess.

“My family had issues with alcohol,” Joe said. “It revolves around every celebration.”

It was hard at first, Joe said, but got easier. The trouble was non-alcohol beer had very few to choose from and they were lacking in variety and taste.

So they started brewing their own

They brought on some partners and after a lot of hard work, the brewery and beautiful tap room emerged.

They also serve pizza and pretzels and invite food truck operators on occasion, as well as offer live musical performances too.

But Go Brewing is even more than that. It’s a business with a social conscience.

They developed a special edition brew called Not Another Story and 10% of the sales go towards the Institute for Non-Violence Chicago.

The non-profit is committed to creating a safer city overall, in particular for certain neighborhoods on the West and South sides, where a disproportionate amount of crime occurs.

Tara Dabney said everything they do is rooted in Martin Luther King’s teachings and then violent behavior, cyclical and system, but can be unleared too.

“We have seen the most troubled kids turn around,” Dabney said.

No one knows that more than Dwayne Hunter, also known as Big Wayne.

As a young man growing up in the city, he readily admits he made bad choices that landed him in jail.

But now, he is a street outreach owrker.

He and others sometimes go to a shooting scene, sometimes a hospital and sometimes both.

“My upbringing was I was raised in a single-parent household,” Hunter said.

The trouble started just as he was graduating from Crane High School. He got arrested, but he said he was framed.

He’s also been shot three times in two seperate incidents.

But he says his turning point came only years later when he was in the Cook County Jail awaiting trial on a gun charge and his daughter, who at the time was only three, came to visit.

She asked why he wasn’t coming home with her.

“I couldn’t come with her and I knew this was what I did not want to do,” Hunter said.

Now a veteran at trying to keep the peace, Hunter counsels up to 20 people at a time who are trying to make better days for themselves.

These days he considers officers at the Chicago Police Department to be less adversaries and more like friends.

In addition to offering Not Just Another Stroy brew at Go Brewing, unique pieces of street art have been created for sale and 100% of the proceeds will go to the Institute for Non-Violence.

Joe, who grew up on the Southeast Side of Chicago, believes it all makes perfect scene. He’s helping create an atmosphere where getting drunk isn’t needed to have a good time among friends.