Connie comes to us after 20 years in the publishing industry and 15 in the coffee industry. She is a powerhouse of design, marketing, publishing and photography knowledge. She proudly volunteers to sit on the Specialty Coffee Association Allied Services and Retail Council and is a past member of the Roasters Guild Executive Council. Connie is one of the founding members and leaders of the Northwest Roasters Group.

About her addition to the Coffee Kids board, Connie had this to say, “I’m thrilled to join the Coffee Kids board. It’s an honor to serve an organization that has given so much to the coffee community.”

Carolyn Fairman added, “We are all delighted to have Connie join our board. Her experience in the coffee industry as well as her experience in marketing and publishing will be a great asset for us. I personally am very much looking forward to working with her and learning from her great expertise.”

Indeed, we all are.

We want to thank Nuova Simonelli for donating their lovely Musica Lux espresso machine and everyone who participated in the fundraiser. The lucky winner was Daniel Randall of Green Star Coffee in Goleta, CA.

The Coffee Kids reception at Olympic Provisions was a hit, complete with tasty food, lively discussion and a video from the field. We want to thank InterAmerican Coffee for sponsoring the event and Thomas Miller from Pretty Good Productions for offering his photography talents.
If you weren’t able to attend, you can watch the video on our YouTube channel.

The Barista Guild was kind enough to put a coindrop out at the competition site for Coffee Kids.

We’d also like to thank Matt Milletto and the folks at Water Avenue Coffee for the Coffee Kids fundraiser and speakeasy party that took place at Jupiter Hotel on Saturday. There was a great show of support for Coffee Kids—a big thanks to all of you who made it out.

Keep in touch on Facebook and Twitter—there will be more photos to come.

Natvia has offered the prize of airfare from London to Vienna for two people plus one night’s accommodation to be auctioned off during this year’s UKBC finals, which will be held during the London Coffee Festival on April 27 – 29. Proceeds resulting from the auction will benefit Coffee Kids, a nonprofit organization dedicated to working with coffee-farming families to improve their lives and livelihoods.

Natvia is a sponsor of both the UKBC and World Barista Championships, which will be held during the World of Coffee event this year, and is pleased to present two individuals the opportunity to cheer on this year’s UK Champion in Vienna as they go head to head with top baristas from around the world. “We first started supporting Coffee Kids at WBC in London (2010),” said Mark Hanna of Natvia. He continued, “We are excited to be able to support such a worthy cause. Our motto at Natvia is to inspire a better life! It all starts from when we are kids.”

“We are so appreciative that Natvia has chosen to show their support of coffee farmers and communities in this way,” said Elisa Kelly, EU development liaison for Coffee Kids. “Natvia and UKBC have both shown Coffee Kids great support in the past and share our commitment to improving producer welfare. The auction of this trip and the money and awareness it will raise is an investment in the future of coffee in two senses: it highlights the skills and knowledge of the baristas who will compete at the UKBC and the WBC this year and it also enables us to invest in coffee-growing communities, where it is most needed.”

Coffee Kids has been the chosen charity of the UKBC since 2009, and the competition organizers annually raise more than $1000 during the course of the competition. “Natvia’s contribution this year should enable us to exceed our target of £1000 for Coffee Kids in 2012,” said Lynsey Harley, the SCAE UK national coordinator. “These funds will go towards important projects in food security, health care, education, and capacity building in coffee-growing communities. These are all areas necessary to continuing developing quality coffee for future generations”.

The auction will take place prior to announcement of the winner at the UKBC Final on Saturday, April 28. Interested parties are invited to submit bids via twitter by using the following format: @NatviaSweetener @ukbc @coffeekidseu £xxx #NatviaUKBC

The Musica includes digital automatic espresso dosing with electronic pre-infusion. The energy-saving heat exchanger boiler and vacuum-breaker valve allow for continuous steam power and simultaneous espresso brewing. The Sirai pressurestat and boiler steam pressure gauge permit you to accurately adjust brewing temperature. What’s more, the Lux includes an elegant LED-backlit trim. You can download the Musica Lux brochure (PDF) here: http://nuovasimonelliusa.com/images/Musica%20Photos/Musica%20Brochure.pdf

You can register to win either at the Coffee Kids booth at the SCAA expo in Portland, Oregon, or anytime online by going to our donate page. Be sure to enter “SCAA” in the memory/gift field.

The drawing will be held Saturday, April 21 at the Speakeasy Party in Portland at the Jupiter Hotel, hosted by Water Avenue Coffee, Bellissimo Coffee, InfoGroup, Barista Magazine and the Oregon Bartenders Guild.

Participants need not be present to win, and winner pays no shipping.

All proceeds go to support Coffee Kids’ mission to work with coffee-farming families to improve their lives and livelihoods.

I often ask myself if development organizations, government agencies and local and international NGOs are really solving the problems of the people they claim to support. It is not uncommon in the field to see many projects left to their own demise because the people these projects are meant to support were not even consulted in the first place.

Does our desire to help people who lack economic and social resources blind us to their real needs? Why do we think that our expertise can solve their problems? How can we make sure that our efforts will not be in vain?

I think that we should listen more and do less.

When I say do less, I don’t mean sit down and do nothing (although sometimes I am tempted to just sit and enjoy life) or to stop helping people. What I am trying to get at is that many have forgotten how to listen.

During my recent program trip to the community of Santa Gertrudis in Oaxaca, Mexico, with our partner organization UNOSJO, I was able to experience firsthand a clear example of a well-intended project that did not take into account the needs of the people it was going to benefit.

While visiting some of the participants of the food security project that Coffee Kids is supporting, I noticed that some families had installed efficient wood-burning stoves. (They appeared to be Lorena stoves.) I asked Mr. Margarito Hernández and his wife Oliva Hernández—both participants of the food security project—who had installed the stoves. They explained to me that they received the stove through a government program. As a matter of fact, 40 families in the community had received such stoves.

“Great,” I said, “this will decrease the amount of wood you use for cooking,” to which Mrs. Oliva responded, “I use almost twice as much wood.” Now, the aim of the stove is to reduce the amount of wood used, among other benefits—the same information the government officials gave them when they installed the stoves.

After a delicious cup of coffee sweetened with panela, or brown sugar, made by Mr. Margarito himself, Mrs. Olivia explained to me that the hole where the wood is burned is much smaller than the one in her regular old stove, so now she has to use tree branches or smaller pieces of wood. This means that Mrs. Oliva now has to walk farther to collect small branches. There are no more branches around her house—she has already used all of them, and she has to split bigger pieces of wood, which has started taking its toll on her body.

Mrs. Oliva also noticed that the new efficient wood-burning stoves channel most of the smoke out of the kitchen. This is part of the scope of these stoves: to reduce the amount of smoke women inhale while cooking. As it turns out, the people of Santa Gertrudis use the smoke from the fogones, or their traditional stoves, to store and keep their panela. Mrs. Oliva told me that the smoke kept the insects away and prevented the panela from melting. Since people in Santa Gertrudis make hundreds of pounds of panela at a time, the smoke is vital to the preservation of such large quantities.

I asked Mrs. Oliva if anyone from the government program had asked them what their needs were or how they would benefit from the installation of the wood-saving stove. “They came,” she responded. “They told us that we would receive a stove that will save wood, and then they left.”

Unfortunately, stories such as these can be heard in many places.

For a long time now, Coffee Kids has recognized the importance of listening to the community members where we work and helping to make their ideas a reality. All of our projects begin with the people themselves. In our experience, that’s the only way a project can reach sustainability.

In the community of Nuevo Progreso, Oaxaca, revolution is underway. This is not the kind of revolution that calls people to arms. It is not the kind of revolution that, in the end, will only work to the advantage of those in power. If successful, this revolution will change the landscape of Nuevo Progreso—and possibly the entire region—and will give the land back to the people.
During my latest program trip to the community of Nuevo Progreso, located in the western part of the state of Oaxaca, in the Costa Chica region, I witnessed the beginning of what appears to be a radical change in the way farmers cultivate their land.

Just 30 miles from Nuevo Progreso is the Learning Center for Appropriated Technologies (CATA), a place where agronomists and farmers come together to experiment with new agricultural techniques and rescue long-forgotten ones. According to agronomists at the CATA, the practice of slash-and-burn agriculture has been detrimental to the fertility of the soil, caused significant deforestation and has led to great environmental harm in the region and, specifically, in the community of Nuevo Progreso.

These agronomists and a number of local farmers have proposed replacing slash-and-burn methods with better land management and agroecological techniques. One of the practices farmers from Nuevo Progreso are initiating is crop rotation and the introduction of nitrogen-fixing plants such as Mucuna pruriens, better known in the region as the “Nescafe” plant (not to be confused with the brand Nescafé). This plant, praised in Africa, India and the Caribbean for its medicinal and horticultural benefits, will help farmers recover their land by enriching it, thereby better enabling them to live off the land as they have for generations.

Among the many benefits found in the “Nescafe” plant is the ability to fix nitrogen to the soil, thanks to bacteria that assimilate nitrogen from the air and mix it with other chemicals to produce organic fertilizer. Mucuna pruriens is also used as fodder for its high fiber and protein content. In the community of Nuevo Progreso, 24 farmers currently cultivate this plant and rotate it with their usual corn, bean and squash crops. The “Nescafe” plant also shows promise in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and clinical depression.

The farmers of Nuevo Progreso have taken the first steps in regaining control of their land. The revolution has begun. A big part of the success or failure of this revolution lay in the hands of the farmers themselves and their ability to take advantage of their acquired knowledge, especially the agroecological practice of cultivating “Nescafe” to once again make the land fertile, allowing them to cultivate higher-quality coffee.

We’re delighted by our supporters’ creativity and their fundraising efforts.

Square Mile Coffee Roasters is selling the 2012 World Barista Champion calendar. One hundred percent of the proceeds will benefit Coffee Kids. The calendar is available for purchase at Square Mile’s online shop. Get your copy today!

For the second year in a row, Reunion Island Coffee is selling their limited edition Organic Holiday Blend and will donate $.25 per pound to Coffee Kids.

Boston Stoker, which has nine coffee shops and a wholesale roasting plant in the Dayton, Ohio area, recently sent in $6,000 from the coin drops they use to collect donations from their customers and staff.

These are just a few examples of the ways businesses and individuals raise money on our behalf. Fundraisers help educate your customers and staff about the reality of life in coffee-growing communities. They also let members of your community know that you care about the origin of your coffee. A coin drop box collection program is perfect for retail locations like coffee shops, restaurants and bookstores. Coin drops provide consistent and much-needed support for Coffee Kids programs.

If you’d like information about how to set up a coin drop at your business or about setting up a fundraiser, download our fundraising guide (PDF) here and please call 505-820-1443 or email members@coffeekids.org.

We often forget about teamwork, about lending a hand to others in need, or simply helping each other out. We live in a society where individual values are often more important than community values, and where things get done when you have the money to pay for someone to do them. During two recent program trips around the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, I visited two communities where communal work is still a way of life and an essential tradition. This type of communal work is referred to (at least in Oaxaca) as tequio and derives from the Nahuatl word tequitl, which means labor or tribute.

The tequio is, according to some people I interviewed, a way to get things done, a way to carry out big projects that the community needs and the government is unable to fund. Some of these projects might include laying the floor for the basketball court (this is, after all, the usual meeting point in most Oaxacan communities), or bringing basic services to the community: electricity, running water or a road to connect them to other communities. At least one family member from every family in the community must contribute to the tequio every time they are called upon.

The few times I have seen a tequio, I have been completely blown away by the amount of work each individual puts toward the welfare of the community without receiving an apparent economic benefit. This group effort gives the people a sense of community that is essential to maintaining order and progress.

The tequio has been, and I can only guess that it will continue to be, very important to some of the communities where Coffee Kids works, not only because economic resources are limited, but because the value of helping each other is deeply rooted in their traditions. We could all learn a little from these communities about the benefit of putting the well-being of the community as a whole before individual economic gain.

Our program partner, the December 5th Coffee Producers Network (RED 5), out of Oaxaca, is leading the project. In just one year, they’ve set up worm-composting bins for 39 participating families and generated more than 15,000 pounds of compost, which they use in their family vegetable gardens.

One of the few people chosen to participate in this first round of worm composting is a man named Ángel Jiménez García. “I was very excited when I got my worms,” says Ángel. “I’ll put all the castings they produce in my vegetable garden. I grow some heirloom tomatoes that’ll benefit from the worms…I just feel fortunate to receive these worms, and I’ll care for them.”

This region of Oaxaca has, over the years, suffered topsoil depletion. The worm-composting project will directly address this urgent issue by replacing essential nutrients and allowing farmers to grow their own vegetables both for their own consumption and to sell in local markets.

A RED 5 farmer spends, on average, $320 USD per year on organic fertilizer. Given that this represents around 30 percent of his annual income, composting translates into significant savings. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) website, about half of the population of Mexico lives in poverty, and the state of Oaxaca is one of the poorest with one of the highest rates of malnutrition.

“When I was a kid, my dad used to take me to the field to work,” remembers Ángel. “Those were long, hard days, but we always had something to eat…Now the situation has become harder for my children. If I want to provide them with enough food, I have to work twice as hard.”

Other members of the community share Ángel’s experience. This project marks the beginning of a trajectory in sustainability. In six years’ time, all of RED 5’s participants will have worm-composting bins. They will have family and community vegetable gardens, and an alternative source of nutrition and income.

Rarely is it more apparent what a little bit can do.

Food security. For many coffee consumers those words might conjure up images of inspectors in pristine white lab coats, clipboards in hand, picking over bunches of broccoli in search of a stray insect or some faint residue. For others it might mean stockpiles of soup and bottled water, stored in a corner of the cellar alongside a flashlight and transistor radio, ready for some possible catastrophe.

But in the world of coffee producers, food security means quite another thing. It means having access to enough food to adequately feed themselves and their families every day of every month of every year. Unfortunately, due to an almost perfect storm of population growth, climate change and a growing competition for natural resources, many coffee-farming families are facing widespread insecurity when it comes to meeting one of their most basic needs.

Although Coffee Kids programs are designed to address a wide variety of issues facing today’s coffee producers, there is perhaps none more important than food security. It is the very foundation upon which any discussion of quality of life is built. If there were a Constitution of Coffee, food security would be listed as the first item in its Bill of Rights.

That’s why Coffee Kids is pleased to announce our Food Security Campaign. This effort will, over the next year, help coffee-farming communities develop and implement a wide variety of sustainable, locally based solutions to address the mounting problem of food security.

Our goal is to raise $100,000. In an industry with estimated sales that will exceed $13 billion over the next year, this is small change indeed—small change that is desperately needed in order to make big changes in the lives of coffee farmers.

The specialty coffee industry has shown steady growth due to its commitment to quality. Please help us ensure that the coffee industry’s definition of quality includes a future that ensures a quality of life for its producers.

Rick Peyser of Green Mountain Coffee provides a valuable perspective on the issue of food security, its effect on farming communities and what it could potentially mean for the coffee industry as a whole. As he says, “We must pause and ask ourselves, ‘Who will grow the next generation of specialty coffee?’ For our sake and for those in the industry who will follow in our footsteps, we had better have a good answer.”

To find out more about the Food Security Campaign or to participate, please contact Development Director Peter Kettler at peter@coffeekids.org.