Green Mountain Coffee Roasters

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.  

At the Green Mountain Coffee® Café and Visitor Center we enjoy sharing experiences with the community.  Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. provides employees an opportunity to visit coffee growing communities on source trips. This gives us the chance to see where the process of tree to cup begins and meet the farmers who produce the very same coffee we roast everyday.

In December, my coworker Michele was given the opportunity to go to Nicaragua with fellow employees in the company, including east coast to west coast American and Canadian teammates.  Not only did she have the chance to meet and create bonds with the farmers who influence our lives even here in Vermont, but she had the chance to get to know people within the company she may not have had a chance to meet otherwise.

In February two of our coworkers, Christiane and Joshua, had the chance to travel with members of the International Woman’s Coffee Alliance to Guatemala. The International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA) strives to create a difference in the world of coffee. With a mission to “empower women in the international coffee community to achieve meaningful and sustainable lives; and to encourage and recognize the participation of women in all aspects of the coffee industry,” the IWCA, from its inception, has remained focused on promoting possibilities for women in coffee communities throughout the world.  

After our trips to our coffee growing regions we, as a whole department in the Green Mountain Coffee Café and Visitor Center, found a deep respect for the people in our supply chain. We created long lasting bonds with our coffee growing communities and our international team members who keep this company running strong.  The in-depth opportunity to see and experience the tree to cup experience and have the chance to share with our community has given a life changing view of the coffee sitting in our cups.

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:

For several years, we have worked with our partners to address seasonal hunger by supporting “food-security” projects at the household level —  that is, projects that help farmers grow or have the means to buy sufficient, nutritious food on a day-to-day basis. We're excited to announce that we've now joined with four other coffee companies along with Mercy Corps and Aldea Global to work on this issue together. 

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."

Today, we honor those who have served in our military. 

Veteran's Day is a day when Americans pay tribute to those who who have served.

Here at Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. we too honor our soldiers. As I’m sure many of you have heard from service men and women is the importance of coffee while in the field; especially good coffee. It is a comfort from home and a small luxury while on duty.

That is why we donate thousands of pounds of coffee to troops serving Afghanistan every year. We work with a great organization called Holy Joe’s Café, that provides coffee in a café setting at bases in Afghanistan. Soldiers can go to the cafés for spiritual guidance from the Chaplains, listen to music on open mic nights, or just enjoy a great cup of Green Mountain Coffee’s Dark Magic.

When our very own Vermont National Guard deployed to Afghanistan, we knew that the comforts from Vermont that they would miss would include maple syrup and Green Mountain Coffee. Again, working with Holy Joe’s Café, every Vermont National Guard Chaplain has received coffee which will find its way into the hands of the Green Mountain Boys.

Thank you Holy Joe’s for helping us make an impact in our soldiers’ lives as they make a sacrifice for us. 

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.

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. 

Volunteerism is an integral part of our Corporate Social Responsibility programs. Every full-time employee can take up to 52-hours of paid time-off to volunteer for an non-profit organization they are passionate about (learn more on how we support local communities).

A company tradition in Vermont has been to cleanup one of the nearby rivers as part of American River’s National River Cleanup. In Vermont, we’ve been organizing a River Cleanup on the Winooski River since 2005. As our volunteerism program has expanded to other employee locations, so has the tradition of an annual River Cleanup.

In early April, employees from our Knoxville, TN facility, with help from Ijams Nature Center (also a Green Mountain Coffee Roasters grant recipient) participated in their 3^rd annual River Rescue cleanup event on the Tennessee River. In total, 149 volunteers over the course of two days collected 452 bags of trash, 20 tires, 6 shopping carts, a conveyor belt, a bicycle, a gas tank, a metal “man” cut-out, rugs, ropes and numerous other items. The approximate weight of the bagged trash was approximately 8,100 lbs!

We're excited to announce that "After The Harvest: Fighting Hunger in the Coffeelands", a film about hunger in Central American coffee communities, has won recognition from an Italian film festival! The film,  narrated by Susan Sarandon, was funded by The Coffee Trust with a grant from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (GMCR). 

The film has won the Biodiversity Award at Festival delle Terre, a film festival sponsored by the Italian non-profit, Crocevia. The judges gave the award "for the sustainable solutions proposed by the film, which enhance the diversification of cultures..."

"We've been extremely gratified by the response to this film, both inside and outside the coffee industry," 

said Rick Peyser, Director of Social Advocacy and Supply Chain Community Outreach. "Food security in coffee communities is one of our top priorities, and this film has helped raise awareness of this vital issue."

"After the Harvest" focuses on the three to eight months of the year when small-scale coffee farmers in Mexico and Nicaragua are unable to maintain their normal diet. These are "los meses flacos," or the thin months, when families make ends meet by eating less, eating less expensive foods, or borrowing against their future earnings from coffee. The film explores creative solutions to seasonal hunger such as crop diversification, grain storage, and family gardens.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. recently awarded Lake Champlain International (LCI) a grant to support LCI's continued work to protect the waters, fish, homes and businesses of Lake Champlain and the Winooski River. This grant is part of our Employee Community Grant program, which provides grants to organizations and projects that are located around our employee communities. Funded projects address specific issues aligned with environmental stewardship, strong local systems, and economic prosperity.

LCI's BLUE® program is an innovative community-based program to help reduce beach closures, decrease potentially toxic algae blooms, protect fish and wildlife, and improve the safety of homes, lawns, and driveways. LCI's

 BLUE® program has previously been offered to residents of the Vermont towns Colchester, Winooski, and Shelburne.

Through this grant, LCI's BLUE® program will be made available to residents of Waterbury, VT enabling Waterbury residents to reduce the amount of water pollution runoff that starts on their lawns and in their homes.

At no cost to the residents of Waterbury, LCI will offer brief and simple property evaluations to homeowners and owners of rental properties.  At the end of each evaluation, the homeowner can have their home certified as watershed friendly, or BLUE®, if they agree to follow a handful of simple practices.  Certifications are free of charge as well.    

Also available are mini-grants for homeowners of up to $200 per property for the first 30 participating properties to build and install water pollution prevention property improvements.  Improvements include rain gardens, rain barrels, gutters over driveways, downspout redirects, dripline trenches, and similar features.

"The grant from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. will help reduce water pollution far upstream the Winooski River and reduce toxins like lawn pesticides in the town and around homes" said Ross Saxton, LCI's Director of Conservation & Education.  "This is a terrific opportunity for Waterbury residents to help protect their river, community, and home values."

Below is an update from Pueblo a Pueblo, a grantee of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., on their work fighting food insecurity ("los meses flacos") in Guatemala

"In the rural and agricultural coffee producing communities where Pueblo a Pueblo works, most children spend their free time working in the fields alongside their parents harvesting coffee, avocados, and other local produce for commercial enterprises — leaving many families struggling to nourish themselves.  In these small-farm communities around Lake Atitlan in the Guatemalan highlands, food security and malnutrition are of grave concern.  Pueblo a Pueblo’s school garden project is supporting these families by providing the essential tools and knowledge necessary to practice sustainable, small-scale food production.  From the school garden, children are learning about gardening and taking this valuable knowledge home to their families and parents, encouraging the re-establishment of family gardening and sustainable food sources in their homes and community.

This year has been an exciting one for Pueblo a Pueblo, as we broke ground alongside teachers, parents, and community members to establish school gardens in 3 new schools in the Santiago, Atitlan region.  What started as a small idea has become a large reality.  The Organic School Garden Project is now being implemented in 6 municipal elementary schools, and it complements a school lunch program in each school.  Together, these programs form an integrated approach to school health and nutrition that provides 1,152 children with gardening and nutrition education and daily nutritious meals. Through our program, elementary school children are getting their hands dirty and exploring themes like garden maintenance, composting, and nutrition alongside energetic staff from the local villages. In each of our 6 gardens, worm compost bins, rain water catchment systems, and other gardening technologies keep the children engaged.  They are learning about cultivating, caring for, harvesting, consuming, and composting their own garden produce. This, together with a school meal, is keeping them food secure.

This year, the Organic School Garden Project continued to grow in size and impact, through new project implementation strategies, a new garden curriculum, expanded community involvement, and monitoring and evaluation systems. The garden project also expanded its reach this year as teacher training classes were held in 10 municipal schools in the region, providing them with the skills and seeds necessary to establish their own school gardens. These workshops focused on ways in which school gardens can be employed as a teaching tool and on ideas about how to transform small available spaces into creative urban garden areas.

In the coming year, Pueblo a Pueblo will expand the Organic School Garden Project and teacher training, providing new coffee communities with the tools they need to enable future generations to be healthy and food secure.   We envision this Edible Education as part of the core curriculum of every school we partner with. If we can provide every student with a nutritious lunch and interactive experiences in the classroom and the garden, we have the power to transform the health and values of these indigenous children and their families."

Denise Henderson is the Manager of Corporate and Foundation Relations at Heifer International. Below, she is a piece she wrote about her recent experiences visiting Heifer projects for After The Harvest.org - the website for the documentary about food security in coffee communities. 

"For several years through a partnership with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (GMCR), Heifer International has been committed to fighting hunger and seasonal poverty in coffee growing areas, most notably in Mexico and Central and South America.

Through its work, Heifer conducts agriculture and livestock programs that enable farmers to achieve food security, improve yields and generate revenue by diversifying crop and animal production. Heifer applies improved farming techniques and helps farmers bring products to market through its community-based approach.

In the past few months, I have had the opportunity to see the partnership between Heifer and GMCR in action, both in the field and here in the United States.

In February, I traveled to Honduras with a group of Heifer International staff. While visiting coffee farmers in Marcala, our group observed a distinct difference between families who had the good fortune of participating in a Heifer program designed to address food security and income, and those who didn’t. The families participating in the Heifer projects we visited were healthy and well fed.

In contrast, it was difficult to bear the sight of visibly undernourished residents and their animals that grazed on patches of grass wherever available…usually on the side of a narrow, crooked road with lots of cars and trucks going by.  We were alarmed when our driver screeched to a stop to prevent hitting a cow stopped in the road.

While we were able to see only a few coffee farmers, it was apparent the great struggles of many who provide one of our greatest pleasures – a good cup of coffee - must experience each year. I’m proud to be part of the Heifer-GMCR partnership working to end seasonal hunger and poverty in this part of the world.

In April, I was part of a delegation of Heifer International representatives who attended the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) event in Portland, OR. 

While at SCAA, we were awestruck by the collaboration beginning to form.  Global non-government organizations are beginning to consider collective impact and what it might look like to work together. Competing companies are joining forces to help their coffee producers, for the good of their farmers and their coffee supply chain. Individual agendas are being abandoned in favor of a collective approach to improve hunger and poverty during “the thin months.” It seemed that all are beginning to understand that there won’t be great coffee if there are no coffee growers.

We at Heifer are very happy to be part of the solution of addressing hunger in the coffeelands, and we look forward to our continuing relationship with those in the coffee industry who share the same ideals."

The spirit of volunteerism is a part of the culture at Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. That spirit is alive

and strong with our Montreal based employees who participated in their first large-scale volunteer event a couple weeks ago.

The Défi Sportif is an international event that assembles athletes from the elite to newcomers, with all types of disabilities. This year the Défi sportif brought together over 4,000 athletes from over 15 countries for 7 days of athletic competition. The week long event culminated with the wheelchair rugby finals with Ontario Thunders taking the win.

GMCR sent more than 20 employees to volunteer at the event for the entire week. For some of these employees this was their first CAFE (or volunteerism) event! The GMCR Canada marketing team also got in on the volunteering by refereeing one of the high school soccer competitions. It is great to see the commitment to volunteerism from all our employees sites.

 And on top of sending employees, we donated all the coffee, tea and hot chocolate required to fuel the event’s athletes and volunteers! 

Congratulations for all the athletes and volunteers!

One thing I love about our Company is the sheer number of opportunities we have to work hand-and-hand with our supply chain – from coffee farmers to importers to non-profits on the ground. A group of us from the Coffee team, CSR, and Marketing just got back from Peru doing that exact thing: Meeting with the supply chain, face-to-face.

With Fair Trade USA, we hosted Intercambio Perú 2012 in Lima with our entire Fair Trade coffee supply chain in Peru (our largest Fair Trade origin). The purpose? To enhance transparency and collaboration, exchange ideas and projects, and create a productive business space. It turns out we are the first coffee roaster to ever gather coffee producers, importers, and outside organizations in one space to talk about opportunities in the coffee supply chain. Pretty cool, if you ask me.

During the three day event, we covered a lot of ground. There were 155 participants representing producer organizations, importers, traders, financiers, and Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) that do projects in Peru. We sponsored a Risk Management Training in collaboration with the World Bank. We held a cupping calibration with lead cuppers from co-ops. The amount of energy in the room was palpable – and not just from the amount of caffeine in our coffee cups!

If you can tell from the excitement oozing out of this post, we are very motivated by the results of this event. Can’t wait to work on similar efforts in the future.

-Derek, Green Mountain Coffee Brand Manager

At Green Mountain Coffee Roasters,  Inc. (GMCR) we are dedicated to improving the sustainability and quality of life of the communities where GMCR employees live and work. We’re implementing Employee Community Grant Programs at all our locations. Each site will have their own granting focus – as each community has unique needs.  One of the focus areas for our Vermont Employee Community is clean water, healthy rivers, lakes and shorelines. The Intervale Conservation Nursery’s mission aligns directly with that focus .

The Nursery works to restore and conserve riparian zones to protect Vermont’s waterways and Lake Champlain from agricultural runoff and pollution. This past fall, the Vermont Employee Community Grant eam, reviewed and awarded the Intervale Conservation Nursery a grant. With this grant the Nursery will increase their outreach and complete two restoration projects along local rivers. Planting native trees and shrubs along a stream bank create buffers that help prevent pollution in rain runoff from entering rivers and lakes. Every time it rains, runoff collects pollutants from roads, cars, agricultural fields and other sources, and washes this unfiltered water into the waterways. The Intervale Conservation Nursery’s lantings help trap and filter sediment and pollution before it enters Vermont’s waterways. The first planting took place along the Winooski River in the Intervale Center itself. GMCR employee volunteers and Conservation Nursery staff planted over 50 container trees. This spring the Nursery and GMCR volunteers will plant an estimated 700 trees and shrubs along the Winooski River in Waterbury. In addition to these two restoration projects, the Nursery grows and provides locally-grown vegetation to conservation projects all over the state of Vermont. We’re proud to support the important work of protecting Vermont’s waterways.