Eat Your Coffee prides itself on its commitment to supporting and working with fair trade coffee. We source the key ingredient of your morning EatYourCoffee Bar from Chain Collaborative, a non-profit organization that works to connect branches of the coffee industry together including NGOs, farmers, coffee-pickers, and communities impacted by coffee trade. Chain Collaborative is an inspiring organization that focuses on supporting coffee-dependent communities through social advocacy and environmental initiatives.
The perk of our connections with Chain Collaborative is the opportunity to support members of their robust network. This year we are beginning an exciting partnership with a Chain Collaborative affiliate called Planting Hope.
A Little Bit About Planting Hope
Planting Hope is a Vermont-based non-profit dedicated to educational programs for children in Nicaragua. Founded in the small neighborhood La Chispa, the initial goal driven by the founder, Beth Ann Merrill, was to build a library. La Biblioteca Chispa has grown since 2004 and the organization has also expanded its reach to support communities around Matagalpa, Nicaragua.
An Opportunity for New Grounds Food
Planting Hope has programs to support migrant coffee-pickers and their families in rural areas of Pueblo Viejo, Nicaragua. The organization has led a project called Coffee Camps.
What are Coffee Camps? Great question!
The Coffee Camps program, or Café Camp, aims to support families during harvest season. Planting Hope provides daycare and preschool camps as well as health screenings and meals for the children of coffee pickers and farmers, who would otherwise be unsupervised while their parents are at work. These programs have been successful so far, and Planting Hope wants to continue the same programs throughout the year as well. However they need some backing to make this plan possible.
New Grounds Food hopes to support the year round programs that keep kids on track when coffee camps are not in session. This month we will be making a donation for this specific program!
An interview with the president of Chain Collaborative provided us with the details on their partnership and the goals that we hope to achieve with Planting Hope. This also gave us a better sense of where the contribution will be directed, so that we know we are making the best impact we can:
“A premium of around $220 is a lot for Nicaragua. That covers about 1 month's salary for one tutor, or 1 month of materials for the camps/mobile library….We plan to hire Nicaraguan university students as interns and they will come with us to all Planting Hope communities in order to apply surveys. We can use the results to better serve all the classrooms in years to come. For one month of internships for about 20 students, we will spend roughly $100. This allows us to create educational opportunities for youth in Nicaragua and have concrete data to better Planting Hope's programs.”
The remaining money will go towards the new school for coffee pickers and their children that is in the works. Teacher’s salaries can also be supported, at $50 per month.
“So, with [$220], [we’ll] provide internships to 20 college students, providing them job skills training as they enter the professional labor market, help Planting Hope evaluate their entire program, and help a school of about 30 children last the year so they can get certified for the coming year and receive governmental support.”
This means that for every day we sell 2.5 EatYourCoffee Bars, we have the opportunity to keep one more child in Nicaragua out of the fields and in school! So for just under 70 cartons of EatYourCoffee Bars, we can fund an entire year of schooling for a student.
To date, we have helped 30 students stay in classes for an entire year! We are excited to start this new partnership with Planting Hope. As we continue to grow, our hope is to contribute at an even larger scale!
So what are you waiting for? Get your EatYourCoffee Bars today! Use the discount code "PLANTINGHOPE" at checkout to get 15% off your next order of EatYourCoffee Bars and help keep a child out of the fields and in school!
