Coffee Kids was delighted to be able to present at the keynote address at the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s (SCAA) Conference and Exhibition.
In honor of our 20th Anniversary, Coffee Kids would like to thank all of our members, partners and sponsors throughout the world who have helped make it possible. We recently completed this video with the help of Machine Hero, a Providence, R.I.-based firm. It features images from our partners in Latin America and interviews with a number of our long term supporters and friends. The video explores Coffee Kids effect in the global coffee community and how support for Coffee Kids translates to support for the long term future of the specialty coffee industry.
Please leave comments on the video below and thanks for making our first two decades rewarding and fruitful!
If you are attending the SCAA Conference in Minneapolis, be sure to visit us at our booth #1241 and learn how your contributions are making a difference and if you can’t make the conference, check out our Web site to learn more about our work.
All of us at Coffee Kids would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family, friends and co-workers of David Williamson, managing director of Matthew Algie and dedicated Coffee Kid supporter, who passed away last week.
Williamson, a sixth-generation descendant of the founder of the 144-year-old coffee importer and roaster in Glasgow, was dedicated to Coffee Kids’ mission and a firm believer in helping create a more sustainable lifestyle for coffee-farming families.
Williamson was not only a supporter, but also a close friend and will be sorely missed by all at Coffee Kids.
Ever traveled with a pack of Irishmen? Lucky for me I can say that I have. And it was the gift of a lifetime. I traveled to Nicaragua with representatives and affiliates of our long time supporter in Ireland, Java Republic. While it’s always an adventure and an eye opening experience when our supporters visit Coffee Kids project participants, this was truly an extraordinary journey.
I don’t know that I have ever seen such an extraordinary spirit of generosity, compassion, adventure, fun and learning. I myself learned about the Irish and their history and just what incredible people they are. There were people from each region of Ireland, including Northern Ireland. Because of the history of poverty and violence that Ireland has experienced and because they were able to overcome that history largely due to education, these travelers felt a sense of solidarity with the Nicaraguan people. Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere after Haiti. Nicaragua has experienced a long history of civil strife, corruption, and poverty. Perhaps it was this ability to identify with this shared history and to see the hope for the future that lead to such exceptional generosity on behalf of these Irish travelers. But I don’t think so. I think they are just highly compassionate people.
I watched as 17 people made a concrete difference in the tiny community of Aguas Amarillas by supporting the students struggling to continue their education and learn new technologies to bring them into the future. Perhaps the most moving gesture, at least to me, was that each one of these people brought back the knowledge that they can make a difference— not just by being associated with Java Republic, but through their own personal commitments to support Coffee Kids and generate more support for the town of Aguas Amarillas and so many like it throughout Latin America.
I have never been so proud to represent Coffee Kids internationally and of the work that we do. I can’t thank them enough for all that they taught me about the impact an individual can have on the lives of others. They each touched many lives, not least of all my own.
Check out pictures from the trip at Coffee Kids Flickr site or you can visit this site and see photos of the trip from our friend Patrick Jordan who was one of the visitors with the Java Republic.
Mark Prince of CoffeeGeek.com, one of the most thorough chroniclers of the coffee world on the Web, is doing a month-long fundraiser for Coffee Kids, Jan. 21- Feb. 22.
Check out www.coffeegeek.com and visit the Coffee Kids link on the left. CoffeeGeek.com is auctioning off several coffee grinders donated by Baratza; donating 25% of their ad revenue for February; donating their Amazon affiliate revenue until the end of Feb; and matching any direct donations made to Coffee Kids through CoffeeGeek.
Koka Coffee Lounge in Cincinatti, Ohio, hosted a silent auction on Dec. 9 in memory of Matt Maxin, a University of Cincinatti graduate who was tragically killed in a car accident in June 2007.
Maxin was the boyfriend of Koka Coffee Lounge employee Mandy Kordal and had worked at a coffee house in his hometown. Coffee Kids was his favorite charity.
Maxin’s friends organized a silent auction of 36 of his photographs as well as other students’ donated artwork to benefit Coffee Kids. The auction raised over $1,200.
Coffee Kids is deeply honored to be the beneficiary of this special event and the Coffee Kids staff extend their sympathy and condolences to Matt’s family and friends.
Check out 
in June 2007. 
Maxin’s friends organized a silent auction of 36 of his photographs as well as other students’ donated artwork to benefit Coffee Kids. The auction raised over $1,200.