GMCR

Below is an except from Partners In Health around their and sister organization Compañeros En Salud (CES) work in southeast Chiapas. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc, (GMCR) is funding this project to revitalize a primary health care system in the long-neglected region.

" “I didn’t know what to expect,” Dr. Abelardo Vidaurreta says. “I didn’t know where I was going.”

Such uncertainties were rare for the 27 year old. But after finishing medical school at Tecnológico De Monterrey, an elite university that produces some of Mexico’s finest physicians, Vidaurreta ditched the urban commodities he was accustomed to and went to work with Partners In Health’s sister organization Compañeros En Salud (CES) in southeast Chiapas. It’s among the poorest and most isolated regions in Mexico, nestled at the tip of the country along the Guatemalan border. 

The move wasn’t entirely impulsive. In Mexico, newly graduated medical students are required to spend a year working in a public health clinic to earn their professional license. Often they’re assigned to far-flung outposts with few resources and even less oversight. This baptism-by-fire approach can be overwhelming. It can also be frustrating, especially for the community members who are left seeking medical care from a rotating cast of fresh-faced doctors who’ll stick around for only a year. 

Vidaurreta had heard of CES when his social service year arrived, but he didn’t know much about the group, let alone its plans to revitalize a primary health care system in a long-neglected region. Doubts loomed when he agreed last February to be among the first doctors to spend a year working alongside CES in Chiapas.

“I thought I was going into the jungle,” Vidaurreta says. “I thought I was going to be alone.”

Now, as CES—whose work is supported by Vermont-based Green Mountain Coffee Roasters—celebrates its first anniversary and more than 10,000 patient consultations, Vidaurreta jokes that he was wrong on both counts. The landscape is more Martian than jungle, marked by towering mountains and a startling lack of infrastructure. And while he would encounter countless challenges in the field, he wasn’t going to be tackling them alone.  A core mission of CES is to alleviate that daunting sense of solitude by pairing the new doctors, known as pasantes, with resident physicians from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. 

“They’re doing all the work,” says Dr. Patrick Newman, 29, one of the first resident physicians from Brigham and Women’s to take part in the program. “But we see their consults with them, answer their questions, help guide their thinking, help to challenge their thinking, and encourage their ongoing growth.” Newman is quick to point out that the exchange of insight flows both ways. For instance, he recalls visiting a family whose newborn had a cleft palate. His instinct was to hospitalize the baby, insert a feeding tube, and perform surgery when the child reached an appropriate weight—standard procedure in the U.S. 

“That was my first suggestion. But it was obvious after talking with the pasante and visiting the family that doing so would result in absolute and total financial ruin for the family,” Newman says.  “You have to understand that there are cultural aspects to care that the pasantes are going to understand better than we ever will.”

In the area where CES works, patients might travel more than an hour for a simple blood test. Getting to a hospital could take half a day. And though there are brick-and-mortar clinics, it’s been years in most cases since a full-fledged physician has staffed one. To make sure the pasantes are equipped to provide the best possible care in this difficult setting, they receive monthly visits from CES staff and attend regular workshops.In the area where CES works, patients might travel more than an hour for a simple blood test. Getting to a hospital could take half a day. And though there are brick-and-mortar clinics, it’s been years in most cases since a full-fledged physician has staffed one. To make sure the pasantes are equipped to provide the best possible care in this difficult setting, they receive monthly visits from CES staff and attend regular workshops."

To read the full article with images, visit Partners In Health's website. 

Below is a Guest Post by Jonathan Bloom from the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). On April 29th, MCC awarded GMCR with its 2013 Corporate Award. 

"At the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), we work with partners across the world. By the time I arrive at the office, there are often emails from Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America that need a quick response.

That’s why the coffee pot is my first stop each morning. And that’s why a coffee addict like me was thrilled to hear that we are honoring Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (GMCR) with our Corporate Award for its sustainability work to improve the lives of the world’s vulnerable populations.

The award got me thinking on a recipe for a great new drink using the products of both Green Mountain Coffee and MCC’s beneficiaries from across the world. So prepare to treat your taste buds with the Millennium Challenge Macchiato.

Millennium Challenge Macchiato

1)      Start with Green Mountain's Sumatran Lake Tawar whole-bean coffee from Indonesia and grind as fine as possible. As you brew the perfect shot of espresso, take delight in knowing that one of the suppliers of this dark roast, the Gayo Organic Farmers Association, has started a project to bring safe drinking water to more than 1,500 people. The cooperative has also saved funds to help farmers with the reconstruction of their homes, many of which were destroyed in recent fighting, and to aid in the construction of two new schools.

2)      Steam milk sold by dairy farmers in El Salvador’s Northern Zone. As the steam rises, take a moment to read how many dairy farmers are now enjoying a higher income because MCC helped about 17,500 people by providing training, seeds, equipment, and technical assistance. The agency also built or rehabilitated more than 220 kilometers of road and 23 bridges as part of a five-year, $461 million compact.

3)      Pour the milk into the espresso and top with foam.

4)      Sprinkle a bit of cinnamon from the legendary spice island of Zanzibar on top to give it a pleasing kick. As you enjoy that first sip, read a bit about how MCC is strengthening the island’s electrical grid with the aim of increasing investment and reducing poverty.  Or if you have a sweet tooth, add a bit of cocoa from Ghanaian farmers who are more effectively receiving payment on their harvest, thanks to the computerization of rural banks as part of MCC’s five-year, $547 million compact."

Jonathan Bloom is the acting vice president for compact operations at the Millennium Challenge Corporation. On April 29, GMCR CEO Brian Kelley accepted the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s Corporate Award—recognition for the work that GMCR does to create a sustainable future for its farmer partners.

By Kiley - our famous latte arist at the Visitors Center!

The Special Coffee Association of America threw a fantastic gathering and exposition this year – and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (GMCR) was the sponsor! Our little Café was lucky to be able to have five of our employees go to bring experiences and stories home in addition to the over 200 GMCR team members that made the journey to the exposition.

The educational lectures brought up points concerning every angle of the coffee business and family from roasting and the science behind it to customer service to the new generation of social media. Our speakers were experienced and deeply involved and embedded in their specific specialties. We were able to see the reach of the business and family. It was incredible!

The people we were able to meet were amazing too. I met people from Kenya, Guatemala, El Salvador, Italy, Mexico, Canada, Colombia, Ethiopia and, of course, from all across the United States. It was quite the experience to meet our large and expansive coffee family. 

We also had the chance to watch the Barista Competitions and the skills shown there were phenomenal. Not only were they producing beautiful latte art but listening to them explain their coffee roasts and blends really brought you into their cup of coffee. The passion seen there was inspiring.

Even working the GMCR booth was fantastic. So many people came up to our booth and so many walked away with a smile. The interest in our coffee left our team with a good feeling too. Having the opportunity to meet and talk with our suppliers, producers, and happy customers really enforced the strong feeling of family and the relationships we so cherish. 

This year has left us with so many memories, new found skills, and inspiration. I hope we will have the chance to meet back up with our Coffee Family and friends again next year!  Back to our Café and Visitor Center we go.  

We often talk about our financial support of projects within our coffee growing communities. Those communities are just one of the communities throughout our supply chain. Our other supply chains include apple growing communities and manufacturing communities to name just a few. We are working to build a Resilient Supply Chain - helping the producers and manufacturers in our supply chain, as well as their employees and wider communities, to adapt to the many challenges they face and to prosper over the short term and the long term.

Resilence, at its most basic level, refers to an ability to adapt quickly to, or recover from, changes. We also strive to address more complex social and environmental challenges. We commit to long-term relationships that sustain healthier communities and create the highest-quality products — whether we are helping our suppliers keep pace with our Company’s continued growth or financially assisting partner organizations to develop new programs for coffee farmers to better support their families.

Highlights from our Fiscal 2012 Report include:

-Over $10 million in funding to projects in over 12 countries within our Supply Chain Communities.

-An estimated 20,000 families have received food security support from GMCR-funded programs

-Funding of our first U.S.-based non-coffee supply chain project in apple-growing communities in Yakima, Wash.

To explore the full Fiscal 2012 Sustainability Report, visit www.gmcr.com/sustainability

We are excited to announce the release if our eighth annual sustainability report, outlining our environmental and social performance for fiscal 2012. The report details the our long-standing commitment to sustainability and unveils a new focus on three specific practice areas: Resilient Supply Chain, Sustainable Products, and Thriving People and Communities.

In the report, we announce that purchases of Fair Trade Certified™ coffees represented over 50 million pounds, or five million more pounds than fiscal 2011. In 2011, Fair Trade USA ranked GMCR the largest purchaser of Fair Trade Certified^TM coffee in the world for the second year running.

We delivered a 46% increase in net sales in 2012 while also improving energy efficiency, recycling more waste, and reducing the proportion of waste sent to the landfill. Highlights of the fiscal 2012 report include:

• - We more than tripled the amount of waste chaff, burlap, coffee, powder, and tea that it composted, and increased recycling of corrugated boxes, boxboard, paper, and plastics by 50% in its facilities, compared to the previous year.
• - Over $10 million in grant money was allocated to supply-chain communities, including food security projects for over 20,000 coffee-farming families around the world.
• - The Company maintained an employee retention rate of approximately 90%.
• - Sixty-five percent of full-time employees volunteered through a company-sponsored program called Café Time, which allows employees up to 52 paid hours per year to volunteer.

The report also highlights our goals for fiscal 2013, which include continuing financial support for projects addressing food security in coffee-growing communities, increasing the sourcing of sustainable coffees, and further reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills.

Read the full Sustainability report our website at www.gmcr.com/sustainability.

As February ends and March begins, I start dreaming of tulips and a freshly planted garden. Unfortunately, Vermont still has six weeks left of winter, but our Knoxville, Tennessee facility will be thawing out much sooner. During our fiscal 2012 grantmaking, we provided financial support to The New Harvest Park Community Garden in Knoxville. The Garden is a partnership of the Knoxville Area Coalition on Childhood Obesity, East Tennessee Children’s Hospital and Knox County Parks and Recreation. The Community Garden promotes a healthy lifestyle through education about real food – where it comes from, how it grows, the nutritional benefits, the many unique flavors – while providing physical activity in the garden. Groups of children attend a ten week program, Junior Master Gardener, which offers horticulture and environmental science education through fun and creative activities. GMCR’s funding provided the equipment, supplies, and an instructor for the program.

The first graduates of the Junior Master Gardener program received their completion certificates at the garden dedication ceremony which was featured on the local news and on Knox County’s website. Members of the Knoxville Grantmaking Team attended the dedication ceremony and spoke to some of the Junior Master Gardeners.  They spoke highly of the program and were proud to share their favorite experiences in the program which included weeding, manually tilling the ground, picking the harvest that they worked hard to grow, and eating the yummy vegetables like tomatoes, peppers and herbs. More information and pictures from the Community Garden can be viewed on their Facebook page.

Through Employee Community Grant Programs at each of our employee sites in the United States and Canada, we provide grants to organizations and projects that address specific issues aligned with environmental stewardship, strong local systems, and economic prosperity. Each employee site has its own grant program and review team, and each directs their philanthropic efforts and resources to a set of specific focus areas that are meaningful for their employees and relevant to their unique community. 

Colleen, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc.'s Coffee Community Outreach Manager, recently traveled to Colombia to visit the region of San Lorenzo. Below is a report of her trip:

We are proud to announce our pledge for over $2 million to support two clean water projects in communities where the we source coffee in Nicaragua. GMCR has joined forces with two non-profit organizations in northern Nicaragua to fund two potable water projects over the next five years. Both projects intend to increase community access to clean water, improve food security, and provide education on sanitation, nutrition, and environmental protection. According to the most recent Joint Monitoring Report by UNICEF and the World Health Organization, only 68% of people in rural Nicaragua have access to safe drinking water. Many families are forced to collect water from streams and unprotected wells. "Water For People" will work in the communities of San Rafael del Norte and partner with the local government, the Nicaraguan Ministry of Education, and three coffee cooperatives. GMCR will provide $1,250,000 over five years for Water For People's ambitious plan to provide full water coverage to the entire municipality of San Rafael del Norte by 2017.

According to Ned Breslin, Water For People CEO, "This strategic investment by GMCR will help change the lives for thousands of people in San Rafael del Norte, and more importantly, it will serve as a model that can be replicated throughout the country so that the entire nation of Nicaragua can meet its water challenges in the future."

At the same time, GMCR will provide $961,359  over three years to a water project coordinated by CII-ASDENIC, the Association of Social Development of Nicaragua. The project's goal is to improve the quality of life for 800 rural families in 10 coffee-producing communities. If the project meets its goals, by the end of the third year 90% of the families will have access to potable water, 30% will have improved food security due to better access to water, and all communities will have a greater ability to adapt to climate change. Together these interventions will revitalize, strengthen, and diversify the smallholder farmer's local economy.

"This partnership supports CII-ASDENIC's continued efforts to improve the quality of life for those living in Northern Nicaragua," said Raul Diaz, Director of CII-ASDENIC. "Access to clean, potable water is essential for improving the health and food security of these vulnerable families."

Together, the water projects are expected to improve the lives of almost 3000 families. "Our strategic grant making is designed to help source communities address the root of local challenges while enhancing supply chain stability," said Michael Dupee, Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility for GMCR.

Our connection to Vermont as a company runs deep. In addition to being founded over 30 years ago in Waitsfield, Vermont, we continue to grow and invest in Vermont communities. This week we were named the largest Vermont-based business for the second year in a row by Vermont Business Magazine. We are commited to Vermont to grow our business, but are also dedicated to improving the sustainability and quality of life of the all the communities where GMCR employees live and work.

Through Employee Community Grant Programs at each of our employee sites in the United States and Canada, we provide grants to organizations and projects that address specific issues aligned with environmental stewardship, strong local systems, and economic prosperity. Each employee site has its own grant program and review team, and each directs their philanthropic efforts and resources to a set of specific focus areas that are meaningful for their employees and relevant to their unique community.

In Vermont, we provide funding to organizations working within the focus areas of Clean Water, Access to Quality Education, and Sustainable Food Systems. As we start a new year, we thought we would reflect on some of the grants awarded our fiscal 2012.

Clean Water & Healthy Rivers, Lakes and Shorelines:

• Composting Association of Vermont Filter Sock Project II: Two demonstration projects and post implementation workshops. One project will take place in Jamaica, repairing a 6,000 sq. ft. area of steep sidehill that collapsed during Irene, taking out a section of road and stream bank. 
• Vermont Natural Resources Council support for a one-day River Conference organized after Irene to bring together multiple sectors to learn about and discuss science-based river management practices in order to properly educate about the best decisions in emergency situations.
• Friends of the Mad River support for Watershed Restoration and Resiliency effort. Funding will support planning efforts, public education, riparian buffer improvement and more to mitigate flood damage in the future.
   

Sustainable Food Systems:

• VT-FEED is a collaborative Farm to School (FTS) project of Shelburne Farms, NOFA-VT and Food Works with the goal to have well-supported FTS programming in every Vermont community by 2020.  When all Vermont schoolchildren to have multiple, repeated exposure to quality food, farm, and nutrition education throughout their schooling, they will not only will learn and appreciate where food comes from, but they will also internalize healthy eating habits that contribute to their overall health and the wellness of their communities. 
• Center for Sustainable Systems works with local high school teachers to use the food system to deliver purposeful, experiential lessons to all students, across a variety of academic disciplines. Teachers are developing curriculum to use in the classroom to be paired with field work in school-based gardens and at Food Works' Two Rivers farm.
   

Access to Quality Education:

• Children’s Literacy Foundation (CLiF) program support for the Year of the Book for Johnson Elementary school, two rural author/illustrator presentations, and two at-risk literacy and storytelling presentations.
• Young Writers Project  general operating support. Funding will support improvement of YWP Schools Project including improvement of ongoing training of teachers, expansion of a graduate course for teachers and efficacy study of its work; website redesign; and development of a strategic plan.
• Audubon Vermont support for the "Opening New Eyes to Nature" program, which will help to support outdoor programs year round for 80 schools. 

Many of our efforts to promote and advance sustainability demonstrate our belief that individuals, companies, communities, and organizations can achieve more working together than apart. This belief demonstrates itself through our working environment, volunteerism program as well as our grantmaking programs. In a recent press release, USAID and Mercy Corps announced our involvment in the public-private alliance to work together to improve the lives of small-scale farmers and thier families in Guatemala. Below is an exceprt from the press release put out by USAID and Mercy Corps: 

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the global humanitarian agency Mercy Corps are pleased to announce  the addition of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (GMCR) and Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS) in an alliance to improve the lives of small-scale farmers and their families in Guatemala. The alliance, known as the Inclusive Market Alliance for Rural Entrepreneurs (IMARE), is part of the U.S. Government's Feed the Future Presidential Initiative that supports Guatemala's "Zero Hunger Pact" to significantly reduce the high rates of poverty and chronic malnutrition that characterize the Western Highland region of the country.

The public-private alliance supports community-based interventions that allow rural agriculture producers to overcome barriers and access larger commercial markets. Evidence demonstrates that this support enables small scale farmers to increase their household food and nutritional security.

"We have seen the power of this alliance create tremendous opportunities for small-scale farmers to become productive and prosperous entrepreneurs," said Peter Loach, Mercy Corps Country Director for Guatemala. "We are thrilled to be able to expand this project to now meet the needs of vulnerable coffee producers and their families in the region."

According to a United Nations World Food Program study, Guatemala has the highest rate of chronic malnutrition in Latin America and the fourth highest in the world. Rural small-scale farmers in Guatemala face multiple obstacles to access profitable markets for their products and often lack the tools and knowledge to improve their family's nutrition. This alliance uses a multi-pronged approach that not only tackles rural poverty but also raises community awareness around the importance of a diversified diet and good nutrition practices.

"GMCR is a believer in the power of public-private partnerships and their ability to enlist needed resources to overcome some of the developing world's greatest challenges. We are pleased to join USAID in supporting this Mercy Corps project in Guatemala that seeks to provide small-scale coffee farmers with better market access as they attempt to diversify their sources of income," said Rick Peyser, GMCR's Director of Social Advocacy and Supply Chain Community Outreach.

The three-year grant from GMCR will expand the alliance to work with 500 coffee farming families to improve nutrition as well as agricultural production and business management techniques. Farmers will participate in tailored educational sessions on safe handling of pesticides, use of new varieties, seed spacing, water and social conservation, and best practices for storage and handling. They will also receive training and technical assistance in nutrition, climate change and gender balance as a best practice.

GMCR's financial support also helps leverage matching funds from USAID's Global Development Alliance for public-private partnerships. According to Mark Visocky, Director of the Office of Economic Growth at USAID Guatemala, "the alliance with GMCR brings substantial resources to bear in Guatemala for the Feed the Future Initiative and brings us all closer to the goal of reducing chronic malnutrition and poverty in the Western Highlands. USAID Guatemala welcomes and encourages new alliances with the private sector to assist the people of the Western Highlands escape the cycle of poverty and malnutrition that has plagued the region for decades."

Over the past couple weeks employees from our Vermont locations have been getting into the Halloween spirit through volunteering.

For the second year, employees at multiple locations in Vermont carved pumpkins for The Haunted Forest. The Haunted Forest is a non-profit event dedicated to producing a fun and exciting community Halloween event. The Forest is an event that combines outdoor theater, special effects, the magic of the night forest and the “spirit” of Halloween. Guests are led by mysterious guides through a dark forest path lined with over 1,000 Jack-O-Lanterns and encounter characters performing Halloween-themed scenes. GMCR employees carved more than 100 of the 1,000 pumpkins that lit the path through the forest.

 

We also had employees carve pumpkins for The Vermont Foodbank as a way to raise awareness about hunger in Vermont. The pumpkins were placed in local businesses throughout Montpelier.

Recently, Rick and Mary Beth had the opportunity to visit three Supply Chain Outreach-supported projects focused on food security, potable water, and sanitation with coffee farmers in Nicaragua.

They spent two days in Matagalpa with members of the coffee cooperative CECOCAFEN conducting Most Significant Change interviews. As the name implies, they asked the project participants what was significantly different in their lives as a result of the food security project. Many they spoke with told them that ‘the thin months’ had changed: they not only had more food, but also more diverse food year-round or nearly year-round now – a big change from 4 years ago, before the project started, when most reported 3-4 months of extreme scarcity of food every year.

They also spent time with nonprofit Water for People in Jinotega learning about their progress towards providing year-round access to potable water and improved sanitation in homes and schools. In Estelí,  GMCR supports a project with CII-ASDENIC, a local Nicaraguan nonprofit, that brought potable water to people’s homes, allowing them to leave behind the chore of walking several hours each day up the mountain to get water for their family. The families also received vegetable seeds that allowed them to establish family gardens, providing another source of nutritious food throughout the year.

They spent their final day with our Nicaraguan project partners in a training focused on our guidelines for how projects should monitor and report their progress and impact to GMCR. It was a great conversation and we are eager to follow the projects’ progress and continue to share this exciting work with all of GMCR.

At GMCR we have a long history of supporting the communities we live, work and do business. 

As our business evolves, we are evoling what that support looks like. In addition to contributing $2.96 Million in grants and donated product to local communities:

- We expanded our employee community grantmaking programs via locally focused teams that promote strong local systems, environmental stewardship, and economic prosperity. In fiscal 2011 we provided grants in communities surrounding our Castroville, Knoxville, Reading, Sumner, Toronto, and Vermont facilities;

Did you know next Saturday is National Coffee Day?  For us, that means this week is an invitation to embrace our java joy and revel in our roasts as we work up to the ultimate celebration.  So, what better way to start the work week than to sip Newman’s Own® Organics coffee with Nell Newman? 

Did we mention you’re invited, too?

Newman’s Own Organics has a lot of proud partners: Green Mountain Coffee® is proud to source and roast a line of world-changing, Fair Trade Certified™ coffees for our friends at Newman's Own Organics and New England McDonald’s are proud to serve this exceptional coffee every day in most of its restaurants.  So, we’re sharing that pride with fans who love this coffee with a live virtual tasting.

Here are the details:

• WHAT: Newman’s Own Organics Coffee Tasting with McDonalds; live and interactive!
• WHEN: This Monday, September 24, 2012, 10:00 to 10:30 AM EST
• WHO: You and Nell Newman, Lindsey Bolger, GMCR’s Senior Director of Coffee, and Wayne Lebrun and Lou Provenzano, owner/operators from McDonald’s in New England. 
• WHERE: From the comforts of your computer on Livestream.com/VermontLive for you; Live from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc.’s Coffee Lounge, in Waterbury, Vermont for us

If you want to taste along with us, follow the conversation, or ask a question of the tasters, follow @McDEasternNE  and #McDCoffeeChat on Twitter.

Chat with you soon!

We’re proud to announce the release of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (GMCR) fiscal 2011 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report! On this blog we mostly discuss our efforts around philanthropy and volunteerism, but our sustainability efforts as a company reach beyond those two areas of outreach.  As our business grows, our opportunities to make a difference are growing. Looking back at fisal year 2011, we’re proud of where we’ve been and where we’re going.

Some highlights from fiscal 2011 include:

- Allocating approximately $15.2 million in resources to our sustainability program
- Funding or expanding funding for 20 food-security projects that reached 19,000 families in our supply chain.
- Contributing more than 29,000 hours of volunteer time through our employee volunteerism programs.
- Exceeding our targets for waste reduction at two of our facilities. Knoxville, TN cut its waste metric by 49% (versus its goal of 15%) and Sumner, WA reduced its waste metric by 37% (versus its goal of 30%).

The full report is available as a downloadable PDF on GMCR’s CSR website: www.BrewingABetterWorld.com.

As Director of Social Advocacy and Supply Chain Community Outreach in our CSR Department I frequently travel to source to check on our coffee growing communities and the programs that assist them. I find that being there firsthand gives me a much clearer insight on how we can best help our supply chain, and I have watched our supply chain and initiatives make huge development strides over the last 24 years.

The following notes are a part of an eye-opening part of my latest trip. It feels amazing to see what changes we can actually make in our world to improve normal people's lives.

 -Rick

Wednesday, July 18: 

Bill, Jonathan, Paula, and I left our hotel in Guatemala City, Guatemala at 6 a.m. for an 5 hour drive to the village of Copan Ruinas in Honduras, where we met an employee of the nearby Santa Rosa de Copan dry mill, and traveled to the mill.  After, we met Omar Rodriguez, General Manager of COCAFCAL (a coffee coop we work with) located in Capucas, Honduras. Omar then led us on our journey to Capucas in 4-wheel drive pickup trucks.  I had previously spent 3 weeks as a volunteer in this small mountainous community in 2005 and 2006 to help this young co-op develop a marketing plan and make market linkages.  GMCR is now purchasing coffee from COCAFCAL, and the community is one of those being served by a GMCR-sponsored Heifer International project in the region.

 When we finally arrived in Capucas, I was amazed by the changes that have taken place since my last visit.  In 2005 the co-op had 75 members; it now has over 800 members!  In 2005, it sold 1 container of coffee; in 2011 it sold over 100 containers.  In 2005 it had no certified coffee.  Today, it has organic, Fair Trade, Bird Friendly, and Rainforest Alliance certifications.

During my first year as a volunteer I lived in a long cinder block building, just off the beneficio's drying patio that had 3 rooms: a room with 2 chest freezers (used to freeze chickens from a Plan International project), a storage room, and finally my 15' x 15' room with a cinder block bathroom and cold shower.  My "home" was now engulfed in a large 2-story co-op office building that houses a cupping lab, an espresso cafe, QC rooms, offices, and more. 

My "Home", 2005	New Office Building, 2012

In addition significant improvements have been made in the wet mill and dry mill that have improved the capacity of the co-op and the quality of the coffee processed. 

 After visiting the co-op buildings, we drove to the buildings where we would stay.  We arrived at a small compound of 3 cottages (all brand new) that had two bedrooms, an open area with a flat screen TV, and a full kitchen.  Most amazing was the presence of two swimming pools!  This compound was built by Omar's family to support the co-op and with the hope of developing an eco-tourism business.  Celaque, a pristine national park, is within hiking distance of the community.

 While we were in Capucas, we had all of our meals with Omar's family.  It was great spending time with them again.  They were a wonderful host family during my prior visits, and it was great to see how their coop had improved with the help of some of our CSR programs!

Today is the last day of the 8^th annual River Cleanup here on the Winooski River, which I’m thinking of calling the 8^th Annual Tire Dig.

It’s been five hot, humid days of hard work to make our river a little better, one tire at a time. We hauled shopping carts, goal posts, cement cylinders, traffic signs, and pieces of metal out of the water all week, and you can bet it wasn’t easy.

It took a little muscle...

A little teamwork...

A little tire frisbee...

...And a lot of laughs.

In honor of the last day, I thought I’d do a roundup of a few of my favorite finds…a river roundup, if you will. You already saw the keg and cell phone in my last post, but here’s a collection of more treasures we pulled out of the Winooski:

An old tobacco sign--Google tells me this variety is circa 1930s.

A glove and baseball in pretty good condition.

Probably my favorite find of the entire week, an "unsightly" pair of women's unmentionables. Up close and personal, they were paisley print. If these underwear could talk...

A "Men Working" construction sign. Pretty sure Champ migrated to the Winooski and took a bite out of this. I shudder to think about what happened to the men who were working.

The remnants of a TV. Look at how great that picture comes in!

In my opinion, this week showed that the dedication, work ethic, and commitment to bettering our planet is pretty unrivaled here at GMCR. So many people jumped at the chance to throw on a life vest, hop in a canoe, and dig up heavy objects for hours at a time, and they did it all with a smile.

As August begins, we’re approaching the one-year anniversary of Tropical Storm Irene’s historic flooding and damage in Vermont. Our own backyard of Waterbury was impacted in ways we couldn’t have imagined – flooded homes, mud-caked streets, ponds where parks once stood.  In Waterbury, and the rest of the Northeast, the recovery is ongoing.

A couple weeks before Irene hit, our employees had just finished our 7^th Annual River Cleanup on the Winooski River. From a three mile stretch of river, 165 employees removed over 800 tires, 3.9 tons of scrap metal, and 2.9 tons of trash. Next week, GMCR employee volunteers will use paid time off to pick up trash in and around Vermont’s Winooski River, starting in Montpelier and working their way down to Waterbury. With the devastation caused by Tropical Storm Irene, the state’s worst natural disaster in nearly a century, we know this year’s River Cleanup will likely reflect the remnants of the storm.

The Winooski River, in addition to the many other rivers, lakes and streams in Vermont, holds special meaning to our employees. There is a connection to the waters that flow through the state and a sense of responsibility to protect them. In addition to volunteering over 700 hours last year on the river, employees in Vermont also voted to focus on healthy rivers, lakes, and shorelines as one of three areas for local grantmaking. The Vermont Employee Community Grantmaking team approved grants to support riverbank stabilization projects, storm water runoff prevention and water educational opportunities for youth and adults. Supporting organizations like the ECHO Center, Friends of the Winooski and Lake Champlain International, underlines our commitment to helping communities where we live and work. After the devastation caused by Tropical Storm Irene last year, this year’s River Cleanup gives us an opportunity to continue to help out in our own backyard.

Starting August 6^th, we’ll be on the Winooski River pulling out debris and trash. Check back during the week as we’ll have daily blog updates from the river! The event is held in conjunction with American Rivers’ National River Cleanup™, a nationwide effort to keep America’s waterways clean.

A Licensed Q grader is the name of someone who has been certified by the Coffee Quality Institute, based in  Long Beach, CA. These cuppers must pass a rigorous 3 day exam, made up of 22 sections on coffee related subjects like green coffee grading, roast color identification, coffee cupping, sensory skills and sensory triangulation.

If that sounds confusing, just know this: A Q grader is someone really good at tasting, cupping and evaluating coffee. There are now over 1,000 Licensed Q Graders in the world and 9 of them work for GMCR. (Including me!) One of the consequences of standardizing coffee evaluation has been that the playing field between consuming countries and origin is a lot more level than it has ever been. Farmers and cooperatives are able to better evaluate the quality of their coffee and knowing the value of one’s product is crucial in any marketplace.

Not only have we been busy getting our staff certified as Licensed Q Graders, we have been actively promoting the program in our own supply chain. In particular, we help fund some of the Q Grader classes in a large portion of our Fair Trade Organic supply chain in Peru. We’re already getting better coffee from Peru and that means we’re able to buy more coffee in Peru.

If you’d like to see a short video of the most recent Q Grader Certification class we held here in Waterbury, Vermont, go here: All of the “students” in the video are employees and it was filmed and photographed in our brand new coffee lab.

For years, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (GMCR) has awarded grants to improve the quality of life in coffee-growing communities around the world. Now, for the first time in the history of our philanthropic giving, we’ve chosen to fund a supply chain project within the United States related to our growing portfolio of non-coffee products, with a $125,000 grant to the Madison House Youth and Community Center of Yakima, WA.

Madison House Youth and Community Center provides educationally based programs to families who are employed in the orchards and warehouses of the surrounding apple industry. GMCR buys apples for its Green Mountain Naturals® Hot Apple Cider K-Cup® packs from the same fertile area of Yakima Valley.

“It was a natural fit,” said Rick Peyser, Director of Social Advocacy and Supply Chain Community Outreach for GMCR. “We are pleased to be able to support Madison House because the organization provides much-needed services to the people who pick and process our apples.”

This $125,000 grant will fund adult education at Madison House, including scholarships, program materials and supplies, a full-time adult education coordinator, GED testing fees, and childcare.

“This partnership represents an exciting opportunity for both organizations to expand efforts to reduce generational poverty,” said Sara Holtzinger, Madison House Development Director. “To change the culture of our communities, we must work to change the culture of our homes. That’s why adult education, and the childcare that’s necessary to support it, are so important.”

We were introduced to Madison House by representatives of Tree Top, a grower-owned cooperative that operates eight fruit processing facilities in Washington, Oregon, and California. “Good things happen when people work together to care for communities within the supply chain,” said Sharon Miracle, Corporate Communications Director for Tree Top, Inc.

We’re excited to continue our supply-chain outreach through grants to organizations like the Madison House Youth and Community Center.