December 07, 2011 10:41:20 AM
TONY SIMMONS / PanamaCity.com
On the Web:
Learn more at GlobalEffect.org
ROSEMARY BEACH — A Rosemary Beach church has joined forces with a Panama City Beach charity and the Amavida Coffee Co. to form an international project to change lives and communities one cup of coffee at a time.
“Cup By Cup” is a coffee brand created to finance the project. Beach-based charity Global Effect buys the coffee beans from growers in the southern Dominican Republic; Amavida imports, roasts and packages the coffee at its beach warehouse. The product is marketed to churches in the United States, and proceeds are invested in poor communities in northern Dominican Republic to create businesses and provide for families and children.
“It’s a simple concept,” said Amavida owner Dan Bailey. “Buy a product from a community and market it in the states. Then direct profits to outreach, to help both communities without it being a handout.”
Global Effect operates like a non-profit, but uses its profits to finance micro-lending to the poor, provide water filtration and purification, help open locally-owned and operated factories, and educate through workshops so people can form their own businesses.
“They want to work. They don’t want handouts,” said Global Effect board member Lee Sage, who is a member of the Rosemary Beach Chapel. “They want to make you proud of their effort and show you what they can accomplish. … If you’re drinking coffee every day, why not drink this coffee, this good coffee, and look at what a change you’re creating in the lives of people around the world.”
In January, a Global Effect group from Bay and Walton counties will travel to the village of La Vega to provide Christmas presents for the children on Three Kings Day (Epiphany). This will be Sage’s second visit. The group will give the kids various toys, crayons and coloring books, backpacks and jackets.
But Sage said the children give their group even more in response.
“The smiles on their faces — they don’t have to say anything,” Sage said. “It changed me to go down there. They had more impact on me than I did on them, just because they have so much faith, so much love.”
TONY SIMMONS / PanamaCity.com
On the Web:
Learn more at GlobalEffect.org
ROSEMARY BEACH — A Rosemary Beach church has joined forces with a Panama City Beach charity and the Amavida Coffee Co. to form an international project to change lives and communities one cup of coffee at a time.
“Cup By Cup” is a coffee brand created to finance the project. Beach-based charity Global Effect buys the coffee beans from growers in the southern Dominican Republic; Amavida imports, roasts and packages the coffee at its beach warehouse. The product is marketed to churches in the United States, and proceeds are invested in poor communities in northern Dominican Republic to create businesses and provide for families and children.
“It’s a simple concept,” said Amavida owner Dan Bailey. “Buy a product from a community and market it in the states. Then direct profits to outreach, to help both communities without it being a handout.”
Global Effect operates like a non-profit, but uses its profits to finance micro-lending to the poor, provide water filtration and purification, help open locally-owned and operated factories, and educate through workshops so people can form their own businesses.
“They want to work. They don’t want handouts,” said Global Effect board member Lee Sage, who is a member of the Rosemary Beach Chapel. “They want to make you proud of their effort and show you what they can accomplish. … If you’re drinking coffee every day, why not drink this coffee, this good coffee, and look at what a change you’re creating in the lives of people around the world.”
In January, a Global Effect group from Bay and Walton counties will travel to the village of La Vega to provide Christmas presents for the children on Three Kings Day (Epiphany). This will be Sage’s second visit. The group will give the kids various toys, crayons and coloring books, backpacks and jackets.
But Sage said the children give their group even more in response.
“The smiles on their faces — they don’t have to say anything,” Sage said. “It changed me to go down there. They had more impact on me than I did on them, just because they have so much faith, so much love.”
