What does the year 2020 mean to you?
Last year was very difficult on many and this certainly was not an exception for us as a small business.
From watching sales drop by nearly 70%, to determining how to keep our staff safe, 2020 was stressful to say the least. From a business perspective, it could be argued that no event in the history of the world has had such a GLOBAL economic effect as the COVID-19 epidemic. Consider the following startling facts with me.
- Over 100,000 small businesses closed permanently in 2020.
- At one point in 2020, nearly 6 million citizens were unemployed.
- Large corporations were clearly not immune, as giants like JC Penny, Hertz and Ruby Tuesday's filed for bankruptcy last year.
Even coffee could not cure our exhaustion as we crawled our way through 2020.
And yet, we refused to let 2020 define us with defeat.
Instead, we decided to stay true to our mission by embarking on our greatest fundraiser yet.
August 2020 was our 5 year anniversary and we made it our goal to raise $5,000 for Out of Darkness, an organization that rescues and restores trafficking victims. This falls right in line with our three fold mission to Empower our Farmers, End Human Trafficking and Engage the Community.
So we started the fundraiser the same way we start everything...with a wicked awesome cup of coffee!
We donated 50% of each coffee bag sold to Out of Darkness. To say this doesn't make financial sense is an understatement, but then throw in global economic upheaval and we just look silly. And yet, people started ordering.
A lot of people started ordering.
Thankfully, we were not alone. We enlisted the help of some other amazing small businesses that would be willing to match what we raise. Their willingness was incredibly uplifting. A huge thank you to Pioneer Design, Statesboro Real Estate, Quicken Steel and JJ Puccio with State Farm! More than that, hundreds of customers rallied to the call to support this great cause.
When it was all said and done, we reached our goal of raising $5,000 for Out of Darkness!!! Though the funds raised were clearly an exciting achievement for such a difficult year, it was also a fantastic time of raising awareness about the injustice of human trafficking.
The International Labor Organization estimated that in 2016, there were roughly 40 million victims of modern day slavery. Nearly 25 million of those victims found themselves in labor trafficking situations, which is not an uncommon issue in the coffee production chain. As for the remaining 15 million, those victims were subject to other forms of trafficking, including sex trafficking. Sadly, a few million were specifically children who were victims to sex trafficking.
Clearly this is a justice issue.
Though the 5 year fundraiser is over, our desire to fight human trafficking continues.
And you can join us in that fight.
Our Mystery Box Coffee Subscription is a service that delivers 'Roaster's Choice' ethically sourced specialty coffee directly to your door. Each month, you get to try different single-origin coffees and blends to explore the incredible world of coffee.
And the best part is we are donating 10% of each Mystery Box Subscription sale to Out of Darkness.
If you're interested in learning more about Out of Darkness, then click here.
And if you're interested in checking out the Mystery Box Subscription, then click here.
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