Saturday, April 17, 2010

Wake Up! New Merchandise in the Shop

We recently created a new graphic for the Coffee Kids’ mugs, tote bags and t-shirts. There are over 25 million families around the world who are completely dependent on coffee and it’s not enough. It’s time to ‘Wake Up’ and help out. Check out the Coffee Kids shop to pick up our new shirts, mugs, totes and other merchandise.

All t-shirts feature the Wake Up/Despierta graphic on front and Coffee Kids logo and mission on back. Women’s t-shirts in heather burgundy are currently available in medium and large sizes; men’s shirts in heather green are available in medium, large and extra-large; and children’s shirts in heather grey are available in sizes 10, 6 and 2. Special thanks to Mario Gerard for his help in creating the new graphic and Lisa Romero of Paper Bullet for her gracious input.

The new merchandise is available in the Coffee Kids shop.

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Wednesday, April 07, 2010

On Our Way to SCAA

Staff at Coffee Kids are busy prepping for the upcoming Specialty Coffee Association of America’s (SCAA) Expo in Anaheim, CA, April 15-18. If you’re planning to attend, visit us at booth #2157 in the expo hall. We’ll have our new t-shirts on display ready to take orders.

We’ll also be selling tickets for the Coffee Kids Benefit drawing. There are three great prizes, including Behmor Roasters, a Mypressi Handheld Espresso Machine from Visions Espresso, and a Tea and Coffee Gift Basket from the Little Bean Coffee Company. Tickets are a suggested donation of $25, or 5 for $100.

If you can’t attend the show, purchase tickets through our website by making a donation here (be sure to enter SCAA in the ‘memorial/gift’ field). You can also donate over the phone by calling 505-820-1443.

On Friday night from 5-7pm in Ballroom A of the Anaheim Convention Center, stop by the Coffee Kids Reception sponsored by InterAmerican Coffee. We will highlight the achievements of FHC of Costa Rica, a longtime Coffee Kids partner that has provided scholarship opportunities to thousands of students from coffee-farming communities. Light refreshments and cash bar will be available.

Coffee Kids staff will also be presenting on a couple panels at the expo. Executive Director Carolyn Fairman will present at, “Ask the Experts: What is the Ethical Coffee Debate,” in Room 207C on Saturday, April 17 from 9-10:15 a.m. International Program Director Jose Luis Zarate will be on the panel of “The Hidden Element in Sustainability,” in Room 207B on Saturday, April 17 from 10:30-11:45 a.m.

See you there!

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Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Featured Donor: Our Supporters in the Press and Online

Each month, every day, magazines and websites in the coffee industry spread the word about Coffee Kids by donating ad space. Given Coffee Kids’ limited resources, these placements help us promote our work and accomplishments and attract interest from new contributors.

“All of these publications recognize the important role Coffee Kids plays in helping coffee-farming families and have been extremely thoughtful and giving,” said Kyle Freund, communication manager at Coffee Kids. “We appreciate all of the exposure and support we receive.”

Special thanks to ad space contributors:
Barista
BeanScene Magazine
Coffee & Cocoa International
CoffeeTalk Magazine and the Daily Dose
Fresh Cup
Roast
Saveur Magazine Online
Specialty Coffee Retailer
The Sprudge Report
Tea and Coffee Trade Journal

All ad space donors receive recognition in the Coffee Kids newsletter; contributions are tax-deductible. If interested in helping Coffee Kids spread the word, contact or call 505-820-1443.

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Friday, March 12, 2010

InterAmerican Sponsors 2010 SCAA Reception

InterAmerican Coffee is the sponsor of the Coffee Kids Reception at the 22nd Annual Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) Exposition in Anaheim, CA. The event will be held on Friday, April 16 from 5-7pm, in Ballroom A of the Anaheim Convention Center.

“It’s great to have our friends from InterAmerican Coffee on board for this event,” said Carolyn Fairman, executive director of Coffee Kids. “The reception will be a great opportunity for people to learn about our partners in Latin America, and network with others in the world of specialty coffee.”

At the reception, Coffee Kids will highlight The Rural Children’s Education Foundation of Costa Rica, a longtime Coffee Kids partner that has provided scholarship opportunities to thousands of students from coffee-farming communities. Coffee Kids Executive Director Carolyn Fairman, InterAmerican CEO and President Guy Burdett and other special guests will also present a brief program about Coffee Kids work. Light refreshments and cash bar will be available.

InterAmerican Coffee is a strong supporter of Coffee Kids’ mission to help coffee-farming families improve their quality of life. The company is an importer and distributor of high-quality green coffee.

“As an importer and distributor of coffee, the work Coffee Kids does helps us connect with the producers and contribute directly to an improved quality of life,” said Guy Burdett, President and CEO of InerAmerican Coffee.

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Monday, March 08, 2010

Seeing it Firsthand: Board Visits Oaxaca

Coffee Kids Board President and President and CEO of InterAmerican Coffee, Guy Burdett, recently traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, to visit one of Coffee Kids’ partners and learn more about our efforts. He shares a bit of his visit below.

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In July of 2009, I joined the board of Coffee Kids. Last week, I traveled with Bill Mares, another Coffee Kids board member and Carolyn Fairman, executive director at Coffee Kids to Oaxaca, Mexico, to visit a couple of communities where Coffee Kids has projects.

On our first stop, we met Coffee Kids’ local partner CAMPO. Their programs focus on sustainable agriculture, ecology and food security. At CAMPO’s offices we learned about some of their projects, including: composting, greenhouses, construction using compacted earth, solar energy and chicken-raising, among other things. We then traveled with CAMPO to a couple of the communities to see the projects in action.

These projects give families options for additional sources of income so that the communities are not as dependent on income from coffee. Also, some of these programs provide additional food sources to support a healthier lifestyle.

This trip was very enlightening for me. I saw firsthand the struggles that smallholder coffee farmers face everyday. I have a new appreciation and understanding of the challenges these communities confront. The challenges are many, but with the help of organizations like Coffee Kids, they can be addressed and overcome.

Check out pictures from our trip on Flickr.

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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Coffee Kids Benefit Drawing - Three Great Prizes

We are excited to announce the second annual benefit drawing for Coffee Kids with three great prizes from Coffee Kids supporters. The drawing will be held on Sunday, April 18 at 1 pm at the Coffee Kids’ booth (#2157) at the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) Expo in Anaheim, CA.

Tickets for the drawing are available for a suggested donation of $25 (five entries for a donation of $100) and participants need not be present to win. Please visit Coffee Kids Donate page and enter SCAA in the ‘memorial/gift’ field. You can also donate over the phone by calling 505-820-1443. Prizes will be shipped free of charge to winners by Behmor, Inc., Visions Espresso and The Little Bean Coffee Company.

Update, 4/16/2010: Today is the last day to enter the drawing online. Please make your donation by 5pm PST! If you’re at the SCAA, stop by our booth and enter the drawing on up until noon, Sunday, April 19.

The prizes include:

• 1st prize – A Mypressi Handheld Espresso Machine (value $169) and free coffee (value $25) donated by Vision Espresso Services of Seattle, WA; and a Behmor 1600 1lb Coffee Roaster (value $299) donated by Behmor, Inc., of Incline Village, NV;


• 2nd prize – A Behmor 1600 1lb Coffee Roaster (value $299) donated by Behmor, Inc., of Incline Village, NV;


• 3rd prize – A fully-packed coffee gift basket with fresh roasted fair trade organic coffees, whole leaf teas and other items (value $175) from The Little Bean Coffee Company of Huntington Beach, CA.
  

All proceeds from the drawing will benefit Coffee Kids’ efforts to help coffee-farming families improve their quality of life.

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Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Coffee Kids Adds Board Members

Coffee Kids is proud to announce new officers to the Board of Directors and the addition of members Guy Burdett and Ellen Bradbury Reid.

New board officers include Burdett as board president; Elizabeth Whitlow of California Certified Organic Farmers, vice president; Rob Stephen of Coffee Solutions, secretary; and Mona Blaber, a Santa Fe-based freelance editor and writer, treasurer.

Board President Guy Burdett is president and CEO of InterAmerican Coffee, a Houston-based coffee importer. He brings more than two decades of experience in the coffee trade and has traveled to farms and mills throughout Latin America and Africa. He served on the Board of Directors at the Specialty Coffee Association of America from 1994-1996 and headed the SCAA’s Technical Standards Committee.

For more information on the Coffee Kids Board of Directors, please visit our Board page.

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Monday, November 23, 2009

Coffee Kids - Wise Giving Approved

Coffee Kids is proud to announce that we have met the 20 rigorous Standards for Charity Accountability as outlined by the BBB Wise Giving Alliance. The alliance is a merger of the National Charities Information Bureau and the Council of Better Business Bureaus’ Foundation and its Philanthropic Advisory Service. The standards require organizations like Coffee Kids to follow best practice methodologies in fiscal, program, and personnel policies. For more information about the Standards for Charity Accountability and the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, go to www.bbb.org.

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Talking Bees with Bill Mares

Coffee Kids’ Board Member, Bill Mares, recently traveled to Nicaragua to speak at a “Let’s Talk Coffee” event hosted by Sustainable Harvest.

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In October, 2009, I was invited to speak [flattered to be, really] at the Let’s Talk Coffee Conference sponsored by Sustainable Harvest in Montelimar, Nicaragua, where I gave a progress report on a four-year beekeeeping project ( reported in this blog, “Beekeeping Board Member Visits Oaxaca”)

“Let’s Talk Coffee” brings together coffee supply chain partners to discuss sustainability in the supply chain, communicate stakeholder needs, and calibrate quality expectations. It’s a forum where more than 300 farmers, cooperative leaders, roasters, industry visionaries, market analysts, and business experts from 13 countries can receive industry-specific training, listen to expert presentations designed to help improve supply chain quality, and share best practices among peers.

Our beekeeping project, created with Professor Dewey Caron of Oregon State University, is to write a best practices manual for beekeeping for coffee cooperatives who are already producing honey or considering it. All of our information comes from working with cooperatives in Bolivia, Nicaragua, Mexico, and El Salvador.

The benefits of beekeeping to coffee farmers include:

1. Income from honey (and related bee products) to supplement coffee earnings, which of course are variable due to a volatile world market.
2. Bee pollination of coffee plants can improve the quality and quantity of coffee.
3. Honey production adds to rural employment and helps reduce rural to urban migration.
   

Key to our project has been work with Coffee Kids partner, CAMPO, in Oaxaca, Mexico where our friend Alfredo Contreras has demonstrated extraordinary teaching ability. In fact, Contreras and CAMPO Director Cesar Morales helped to establish a beekeeping project with Coffee Kids partner CECOCAFEN in Matagalpa, Nicaragua.

Our presentation at “Let’s Talk Coffee,” was well-received and I was happy to provide my perspective to all present.

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Thursday, June 25, 2009

Meet up with FBG - Percol in the UK

On her way to the SCAE (Specialty Coffee Association of Europe) conference in Cologne, Germany, Coffee Kids Executive Director Carolyn Fairman made a stop in the UK to visit with our friends Brian Chapman and Kirsty McDonald of Food Brands Group.

Food Brands Group and its Percol Fairtrade and Organic Coffee were partners with Coffee Kids in launching the Coffee Kids UK charity and have been ardent Coffee Kids supporters over the years.

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