The average American Family spends $160 per year on gourmet
coffee and if you take out the non coffee drinking families
the average is almost $300. With so many coffee companies
helping this cause or that cause it would be truly amazing
if Americans would start spending those dollars on the
gourmet coffee companies that are helping a cause. So once
you decide to support a cause with your social spend which
coffee company do you choose. And how do you decide which
is best cause to support with your gourmet coffee dollars?
And which gourmet coffee is legitimate?
Let's start with Fair Trade. Fair Trade is a viable
solution to this crisis, assuring consumers that the coffee
we drink was purchased under fair conditions. To become
Fair Trade certified, an importer must meet stringent
international criteria; paying a minimum price per pound of
$1.26, providing much needed credit to farmers, and
providing technical assistance such as help transitioning
to organic farming. Fair Trade for coffee farmers means
community development, health, education, and environmental
stewardship. So Fair Trade helps farmers in third world
countries - so instead of getting $.50 per pound they get
$1.50 per pound. A noble concept and should be at the basic
of every purchase as a minimum. If given the choice choose
Fair Trade over non Fair Trade.
But this is settling -when you can do so much more. There
are now coffee companies that use their profits to help so
many worthy causes.
There are a few great gourmet coffee companies that give
all their profits to help so many worthy causes. For
example Mission Grounds Gourmet Coffee and Coffee for
Children give all their profits to helping children. And
best of all they are Fair Trade so they are helping support
the small farmers on the back end. But more importantly
instead of helping a Starbucks fill their coffers with more
profits you are helping impoverished children with the
retail profits.
We believe in a total transformation of the coffee
industry, so that all coffee sold in this country should be
as a minimum a Fair Trade Certified, or if produced on a
plantation, that workers' rights should be guaranteed and
independently monitored. Our view includes social justice
and environmental sustainability: all coffee should be
certified organic and shade grown where applicable. And all
these coffees should also be Shade Grown and Bird certified
coffee.
But more importantly the coffee should be used to help
children or the elderly. Can you imagine the help that
would come from the $5 billion coffee industry helping
homeless children? Sip on that next time you sit inside
your Starbucks and try to figure out how you can make the
world a better place.
----------------------------------------------------
George Moore founded Mission Grounds Gourmet Coffee,
http://www.missiongrounds.com , its is a non profit
organization, a 501 C Corporation, dedicated to helping
children. Our main focus is to help orphans and children in
need the most: impoverished children in third world
countries and homeless children in inner city neighborhoods
in the United States
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