Thursday, December 30, 2004


moving the light outside the bulb

update -- message from bill fishbein of coffeekids:

"Due to the urgency of events related to the recent earthquake and tsunami, Coffee Kids had partnered with ForesTrade to deliver disaster relief services in Sumatra to families in the coffee-growing region of Aceh. All contributions made to the Coffee Kids 'Sumatra Relief Fund' are tax-deductible and 100% will be sent on to the PPKGO coffee cooperative in Aceh. Coffee Kids will not take any administration fee.

PPKGO is currently delivering food, clothing and other essentials to the many thousands of people affected in the region. Information is limited at this time. However, Coffee Kids will post information about the disaster relief effort on its web site as it becomes available.

Contributions can be made on-line through the Coffee Kids web site at this special Sumatra link or by check to:

Coffee Kids
1305 Luisa Street
Suite C
Santa Fe, NM 87505

Please specify Sumatra Relief Fund.

Sumatra Relief Fund: Contributions to the Sumatra Relief Fund will benefit coffee-farming families in Sumatra affected by the earthquake and tsunami disaster in the area of Aceh. Coffee Kids will not take any administration fee. 100% of your contribution will be sent to the PPKGO cooperative. Information about the PPKGO cooperative will be available on our web site shortly. Your contribution is tax-deductible.

Thanks for your assistance with this mission.

Bill Fishbein"

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after yesterday's post on that eureka moment, i wanted to follow up on what we coffee-lovin' consumers ourselves could do to target aid to sumatra and aceh.

to this end, i spoke just a few minutes ago to bill fishbein of that great coffee charity, coffeekids.org, which has extensive experience helping coffee families and an unblemished reputation for its excellent philanthropic management.

for the past couple of days, bill has been working with the people at forestrade, best known for their connection to the famed sumatra coffee group gayo mountain, to establish a fund and channel it directly and efficiently to the needy.

bill is supposed to contact me later today with more details on how we can all help get aid right to the afflicted; bill assured me 100% of monies donated to the new fund would get straight to origin.

in the meantime, visionary roaster peter g. of counter culture has already put together a sumatra relief coffee.

this coffee is a blend of an organic french roast, guatemala antigua, and papua new guinea, with notes of butterscotch, chocolate, and plum. US$1 of every pound you buy goes right to sumatra relief.

this coffee will be sold until april 1, 2005, since it's obvious the scale of the disaster will require long-term relief aid. peter promises that in april he will offer a full accounting of all your donated funds so you can trust that it was being properly and intelligently used.

as soon as i know any more, i'll post an update here. it's great to know that we coffee lovers can offer support to the victims of this catastrophe by simply enjoying our favorite specialty beverage!

posted by fortune | 10:29 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments