While I’m embarking on this new endeavor, I thought it necessary to tell you about a few organizations that are near and dear to my heart. You may be curious as to what they have to do with running a marathon, and I’ll tell you. They inspire me. The push me toward God in ways that those I interact with on a daily basis may not be able to.
Mocha Club The cost of two mochas is $7 in your typical US city. In Kibera, Kenya, $7 provides three meals a day for a month to 9 orphans. In Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, $7 pays for 1 school term for two children. In all of Africa, $7 provides clean, disease-free water for 7 Africans for 1 year. An offshoot of African Leadership, Mocha Club asks that you give $7 a month– just two mochas– to help feed, educate, and care for the citizens of Africa.
Growers First When Dave Day, the owner of Specialty Coffee Services traveled to Oaxaca Mexico in 2000, searching for good coffee, he found was farmers barely existing in deplorable conditions and extreme poverty. Due to the 100 year low in coffee prices farmers were receiving less than competitive prices for their crops. The farmers were being taken advantage of by unscrupulous individuals in their own country whose main objective was to gain financial prosperity at the expense of the farmers and their families. Lack of fair crop wages, inadequate food supplies, and virtually non existent healthcare and educational opportunities lead farmers to leave their families behind in search of a better means to provide. Growers First exists to educate these farmers and to assist them in earning a fair wage for their work and product.
Ugly Mug Coffee In 1998, the place to be in Memphis was Ugly Mug Coffee Studio. Originally a gathering place for college students, the local shop soon became a hot spot for Memphians of all ages. Though in the beginning the shop was more about the place than the coffee, they soon realized that the coffee market had a lot of room for improvement. Deciding to do something fresh for an industry that was getting a little stale– Something like offering customers the finest, freshest coffee in the world while at the same time making a significant contribution to the growers and their community, was just the first step. Ugly Mug now works with mission organizations, churches, schools, and many individuals to spread the love of coffee at a fair wage and where their profits can be used for a good cause.
Please take a look at these organizations, and see if you can find a place to help one or all of them.
