Good coffee for a good cause
The Presbyterian Coffee Project offers a special link between congregations and communities around the world. Churches can now reach out to neighbors overseas not only with the prayers and offerings we give, but with the goods and products we purchase. A warm cup of coffee (or tea) in our hands is perhaps the most tangible daily connection we have with farmers around the world. It represents warmth, hospitality, fellowship, hard work and life’s pleasures both fine and simple. Buying fair trade through the Presbyterian Coffee Project ensures that more of the money we spend on coffee reaches the hardworking farmers who actually grow it.
Participating congregations testify that the Presbyterian Coffee Project is a great way to help people in need while enjoying fellowship and an excellent cup of coffee. Fair trade practices complement our mission with farmers in Latin America, Africa and Asia as well as our commitment to stewardship of the natural environment. By using fair trade coffee in our congregations, offices and homes, Presbyterians help guarantee that farmers will earn the income they need to feed their families, educate their children and improve their communities. Fair trade is a simple solution that means the difference — quite literally — between surviving and not surviving for small-scale coffee farmers.
Congregations get started simply by ordering fairly traded coffee. In your congregation, a women’s group, youth group, mission committee or peace and justice committee might sponsor this project. As your congregation enjoys this high-quality coffee (as well as tea, cocoa, sugar and chocolate), take time to learn about its impact on the people who grow it. Read about coffee farmers, discuss issues of justice in the global marketplace and take action in the spirit of love. Long-term congregational commitment has sustained Presbyterian and ecumenical ministries of relief and development for more than 50 years. With such commitment, we can also make a difference in this new way.
