Photographer Dorie Hagler has done a number of projects for Coffee Kids. After returning from the Peace Corps in Guatemala in the 1995, the photographer got in touch with Bill Fishbein and Coffee Kids to inquire about creating photos at origin.
Coffee Kids began working with Hagler and she created an amazing body of work documenting the life of coffee-farming families, the conditions in which they live, and the joy that they carry with them.
Visit the Web site, Behind Every Cup, a photo-documentary of the coffee harvest and coffee-farming families. Hagler sells prints of the work and donates 10% of all proceeds to Coffee Kids. If interested, contact her at or 505-770-7157
Below is an excerpt from a recent interview done for Coffee Kids 20th Anniversary:
“I took several trips for Coffee Kids and it was an amazing opportunity for a young photographer, that’s why I call Bill (Fishbein) my fairy godfather. There are photographers salivating over an assignment like Coffee Kids, but he said yes to me.
“The reason I think he sent me was because he know about my experience in Peace Corps, he knew my relationship with women’s groups in Guatemala and that I wasn’t going to exploit anyone. Bill always wants to emphasize the strength and dignity of the people Coffee Kids works with and he didn’t want some photographer who would jeopardize that.
“I remember one assignment in Mexico where I was sent to photograph the harvest and I lived with a family for two weeks. But the harvest was delayed. We had made all of these arrangements and it didn’t look like I would see any of the coffee harvest.
“So I’m waiting and waiting and I called a friend who said I should just keep shooting and I left my head and realized the gift I was given. I was able to live through what these people deal with every year. When is the harvest coming? Is it even coming? What if there is no harvest?
“But I saw the optimism, their confidence that every thing was going to work out and that you just live from day-to-day. I realized that that’s how these people have lived all their lives, but through Coffee Kids work, it makes that waiting a little less stressful. Their entire income is not dependent on the coffee harvest.
“I treasure the pictures from that collection, from that town where I spent those two weeks waiting for the harvest.”
From June 16-23, 2008, I attended the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe’s (SCAE) “Wonderful Coffee” Conference and Expo in Copenhagen, Denmark. Joining me were Executive Director Carolyn Fairman and Board President Rob Stephen.
During the event SCAE members and friends came together for workshops, trainings, the World Barista Championship and a trade show with several hundred exhibitors. Given the growing number of European supporters and heightened interest in Coffee Kids’ work, we decided to attend the event thanks to gracious support from the SCAE.
Mick Wheeler and Jens Henrik Thomsen of the SCAE went out of their way to welcome Coffee Kids, and even organized an event-wide fundraiser, whereby proceeds from all the bottled water sold at the event benefited Coffee Kids. Large posters all around the venue publicized the fundraiser and did much to increase Coffee Kids’ visibility. Several other businesses also did on-site fundraisers for Coffee Kids.
Baresso Coffee of Denmark organized a coffee-tasting contest with $2 donated to Coffee Kids for every correct answer. Beyond the Bean from the U.K. donated half of the proceeds from their smoothie sales to Coffee Kids.
It was wonderful to meet so many new people, including business owners from all over Europe and Scandinavia, who wanted to learn more about Coffee Kids. Many of them had heard about the organization, but didn’t know the scope of our work.
I experienced great enthusiasm and interest from both small and large coffee businesses, from the corner café and large-scale roasters to espresso machine manufacturers. We look forward to increasing our presence in Europe and would like to thank all of our supporters and friends for the wonderful welcome!
Brian Franklin, owner of Doubleshot Coffee Company in Tulsa, OK, will be competing in the Leadville 100, a 100-mile ultramarathon. He’s taking pledges for each mile he runs to support Coffee Kids.
That suggestion may not be feasible for everyone, but it’s what Alan Leckey, a distributor for Coffee Kids member, The Java Republic, is doing. Leckey is in Alaska climbing Mount McKinley, the highest peak in North America, as a fundraiser for Coffee Kids.
I read a blog this morning about an interesting fundraising strategy being used in a coffee shop in Melbourne, Australia. I haven’t been able to find the shop that is doing this, but here’s the blog. The coffee shop gives patrons a card to let them know when their orders are ready. When the patron returns, the shop has a variety of trays where patrons can return the card. Each tray lists a non-profit or effort that the coffee shop supports. The patron returns the card to one of the trays when they pick up their order and the coffee shop donates the proceeds from that order to the indicated non-profit.
Take a look at the blog if you get a chance. Seems a pretty clever idea.
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.
Leckey was among the group of 17 from Java Republic that traveled to visit 
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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.