Community Caravan
COMMUNITY CARAVAN
Cafe Campesino Americus –
We take this opportunity to spotlight a valuable part of our local community – the Americus Blue Tide swimming program. Led by coach extraordinaire Tim DeMott, our hometown and the surrounding area are fortunate to have access to a first class swimming facility, the Deriso Pool, located on the campus of Georgia Southwestern State Univ. With support from the university, this program continues to grow and shine. View their brochure and consider supporting a worthwhile recreational program in your area.
July 27: GPB’s Georgia Traveler visited Cafe Campesino to film for an upcoming episode of the half hour show that highlights interesting destinations around our great state. Episode is scheduled to air in November and we’re excited about it! Thanks to the crew for taking the time to visit and for weathering a sweltering day in the roastery and warehouse. Update: Georgia Traveler is at Sweet Auburn Curb Market today (August 5th) to visit Cafe Campesino Atlanta as part of the upcoming show. Cheers to GPB for their work.
Above: The GPB crew (John Cherok, David Zelski, Terry Wahlquist, Gary Peacock, Sammy Jones) pause at end of the day for a photo with our very own Tripp (second from left) and Rebecca (second from right) alongside the well-adorned Georgia Traveler wagon.
Below: Tripp and Bill talk with host David Zelski.
August 20: Our coffee house in Americus is celebrating its 2nd anniversary with a potluck dinner. Look for an soon-to-be email or check our Facebook page for details.
Coming in September: A fundraiser for the Sumter Humane Society, a local group we love to lend support to. Check out our Facebook page for more details on how you can be involved from near or far.
More goodbyes: Two more folks are moving on from their jobs here and we’re sad to see them go. Joe, our head barista that’s been here since before Day 1 of this coffee house, has accepted a job offer from Habitat for Humanity. Jaimie, a favorite barista, is moving from Americus with her husband and son. Best to you both. Thanks for being here.
Support Clean Energy: Green America, a cool advocacy group for sustainability that we support, is asking folks to speak up and out about the need for solar energy funding. Read about the petition driven by the Vote Solar Initiative and consider signing on with your voice of support.
Cafe Campesino Atlanta –
July 25: Almeta took iced coffee and scones to Indian Ridge Organic Farm in Clarkesville to offer refreshments to young men and ladies who donated a day’s worth of farm-work as a part ofCrop Mob ATL. Crop Mob ATL is an organized group of “young, landless, wannabe farmers” who descend on a local sustainable farm to help out for the day. The initiative allows volunteers to learn from full-time farmers and helps build a sense of community between local consumers and producers. Learn more about other “Crop Mob” events across the country at their website – www.cropmob.org
July 30: Atlanta’s Urban Picnic- The Sweet Auburn Curb Market hosted its July Urban Picnic. Urban Picnics are held at the Curb Market the last Friday of every month.
August 27: Join Café Campesino Atlanta and the Sweet Auburn Curb Market for Atlanta’s Urban Picnic. This picnic will have a special focus on Georgia State University as students return to downtown Atlanta for fall semester classes.
Sweetwater Organic Coffee in Gainesville, FL –
July 10: Sweetwater provided coffee for the commemoration of the Downtown Farmer’s Garden. Alachua County, in partnership with Florida Organic Growers, Abundant Edible Landscapes, UF Young Entrepreneurs in Leadership and Sustainability, and the Downtown Rotary Club’s generous sponsorship, installed an organic demonstration garden at the County Administration Building on the corner of University Ave. and Main St. in Downtown Gainesville. The area will be a living classroom for growing organic fruits and vegetables while providing fresh, healthy and local food to nutritionally disadvantaged communities.
July 21: Sweetwater hosted YELS-UF (Young Entrepreneurs in Leadership and Sustainability – Univ. of Fla.) with a tour of the roastery, Q&A session, and slideshow. Bill Harris made a trip from Americus to share a wealth of information with the 49 students and instructors about fair trade, sustainability, and our mission. Jim Caskey, Sweetwater’s Roaster, gave a tour of the inner workings of the roastery with a question and answer session. Everyone totally enjoyed the evening with freshly brewed coffee and homemade treats. This was the largest group yet to tour the roastery!
Above: Group photo of Young Entrepreneurs in Leadership and Sustainability - UF as they tour Sweetwater Organic Coffee.
Article: Upcoming Event
Fair Trade Futures Conference
(Note: Early registration deadline for the FTF Conference has been extended to April 18th so there’s still time to register AND save money)
One of our Peruvian trading partners, CEPICAFE, is a featured speaker at the upcoming Fair Trade Futures conference that will bring together entrepreneurs, students, activists, and Fair Trade supporters from around the world Sept. 10-12, in Boston.
Santiago Paz, founder of CEPICAFE, the coffee, cocoa, fruit, and sugar cane-producing cooperative in northeast Peru that is one of Café Campesino’s trading partners, is scheduled to speak at the conference that brings together trading partners and organizations such as Catholic Relief Services, Equal Exchange, Green America, Oxfam, Ten Thousand Villages and of, course, Café Campesino and Cooperative Coffees to collaborate on some of the most pressing issues in the Fair Trade movement. It is also an opportunity to plan for the future.
“We have tremendous power to transform our global community and hope that the conference will help people understand how to best harness that energy,” said Carmen K. Iezzi, the executive director of Fair Trade Federation that is helping to organize the conference. Ms. Iezzi also noted that she was “delighted” the conference would “bring together the different parts of the Fair Trade Community.
In addition to Mr. Paz, other scheduled conference speakers include Kevin Danaher, co-founder and public education director of Global Exchange, a San Francisco-based non-profit and advocacy group and Safia Minney, founder of People Tree, a Fair Trade and environmental fashion label.
Panels of other expert speakers during the conference will address the following topics: “Is Certification Compatible with Fair Trade?”; “Value vs. Volume: Different Theories of Change in Fair Trade”; “Does Fair Trade Deliver on its Promise?”; and “What is the Future of Fair Trade?”
Learn more about conference speakers, schedules, and how to register online at fairtradeconference.ning.com.
Article: Fair Trade News
Café Campesino will lead an educational session during Georgia Organics’ 13th Annual Conference and Expo, “Reclaiming Agriculture,” to be held Feb. 19-20 in Athens. Tripp and Bill will present a workshop talk about Fair Trade, offering a definition and overview of its practices as well as firsthand examples of the importance of fair trade in the field and its direct affect on the lives of producers. The session will be held from 2:15-3:45 p.m. as a part of a Food Systems educational track that is being offered on Saturday, Feb. 20.
The conference is expected to draw thousands of food lovers and organic enthusiasts from across the Southeast for educational sessions, farm tours, and a dinner featuring keynote speaker Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food. A non-profit-turned-movement, Slow Food began in Italy in the late 1980s in an effort to preserve local food cultivation and culinary traditions that were being threatened by fast food chains and agro-industrial production systems. The organization now boasts 100,000 members with chapters in 132 countries and Mr. Petrini, who is an editor and columnist in Italy, founded the University of Gastronomic Sciences in 2004 in northern Italy that is dedicated to Slow Food principles.
The Atlanta chapter of Slow Food and Georgia Organics work closely together, sharing similar visions for food cultivation in the Southeast.
In addition to Mr. Petrini’s keynote address and the Food Systems educational track, other topics covered during the Saturday sessions include ones on Slow Food culture, farm-to-school issues, home-grown food, raising livestock, managing the business side of farming, and various tips on growing organic food. Farm tours are scheduled for Friday, Feb. 19, and will feature a number of organic farms in the Athens and north-Georgia area. To sign up for a farm tour, the Saturday educational sessions, or learn more about the conference, visit Georgia Organics’ website.
For many years, Cafe Campesino has been proud to be a member and supporter of Georgia Organics. We look forward to many more.
Fair Trade Futures Conference Planned for September
Fair trade entrepreneurs, retailers, consumers, advocates, and producers are invited to attend the 2010 Fair Trade Futures Conference to be held in Boston Sept. 10-12.
The conference is an opportunity for Fair Trade professionals to share their best practices and explore the challenges and successes of the movement. Attendees can expect seminars, workshops, social activities, and experiential learning sessions all focused on Fair Trade. More than 50 Fair Trade Organizations and 700 attendees are expected.
Cooperative Coffees is a Leadership Group member for the conference, providing guidance and support. Other Leadership Group Members include Catholic Relief Services, Ten Thousand Villages, Equal Exchange, the Fair Trade Federation, Green America, Oxfam America, and SERRV. To learn more about the conference, visit Fair Trade Federation’s website.
Cooperative Coffees member Kickapoo Coffee Named ‘Micro Roaster of the Year’
A coffee industry trade and technical publication, Roast Magazine annually announces a Macro and Micro Roaster of the year in its November/December issue. Micro Roasters are classified as roasting fewer than 100,000 pounds of beans per year. Among Roast Magazine’s selection criteria are the quality of the coffee and the roaster’s commitment to sustainability.
Owned and operated by two small families, Kickapoo Coffee is located in southwestern Wisconsin near the Kickapoo River. The roaster was founded in 2005 with a commitment to Fair Trade and sustainability. In addition to maintaining relationships with coffee producers through Cooperative Coffees, Kickapoo is tirelessly committed to environmental sustainability, working to entirely eliminate petroleum-derived plastic from its operations. Their canned coffee is sold in reusable, recyclable steel cans that contain 80 percent post-consumer recycled steel, and their coffee bags are biodegradable. They are also actively committed to their local community and region, selling the bulk of their coffee within a 200-mile radius of their roastery, which is located in a historic train depot.
Cheers and congratulations to the team at Kickapoo!