'Good Coffee, Good Cause' today in MU
Presentation will focus on the nonprofit sustainable coffee produced in Haiti
Joce DeWitt
Issue date: 10/21/10 Section: News
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Haiti is responsible for 70 percent of the world's coffee.
This fact and many more will be revealed at the "Good Coffee, Good Cause" discussion on Thursday at 5 p.m. in Memorial Union 26.
Speaker Tom Durant, a professor at OSU and the University of Oregon, will be bringing his knowledge and experience to the event aimed at educating students on nonprofit, sustainable coffee that is traded in and out of Haiti.
The company that makes it all possible is called EcoCafé Haiti, which was originally created with the help of Christian Flights International. "EcoCafé Haiti was born through CFI as a nonprofit program, but transitioned to a for-profit organization," Durant says.
The company's website informs viewers of its mission statement: to enable economic self-sufficiency, cultivate land for food and restore the deforested ecological environment of a rural Haitian community.
"By purchasing our coffee, the interrelated problems of rural Haiti - economic, societal, and environmental problems - are solved simultaneously and holistically, not piecemeal," informs the website.
"What students will hear is an idea for sustainable enterprise, an organization that has a threefold purpose: profit, care for people and care for the planet," Durant says.
Durant, the founder of EcoCafé Haiti, visited Ranquitte, Haiti, which is the host village for EcoCafé, every several months for the last five years. According to Durant, "The trips last between 10 days and five weeks. I'll be going again in December."
Durant and all other Americans who work for EcoCafé (which is run through offices in Eugene) are not paid employees. "EcoCafé Haiti is a Haitian employee-owned company, the benefits of which accrue solely to our Haitian employees and the community of Ranquitte," says the website.
How was a rural village in Haiti chosen as the target for such a beneficial program? According to Durant, the Internet deserves the credit. "I was doing a web search trying to find an organization that had a need for economic development skills, where my background and experience could help. I knew I wanted to work in Haiti for some time."
This fact and many more will be revealed at the "Good Coffee, Good Cause" discussion on Thursday at 5 p.m. in Memorial Union 26.
Speaker Tom Durant, a professor at OSU and the University of Oregon, will be bringing his knowledge and experience to the event aimed at educating students on nonprofit, sustainable coffee that is traded in and out of Haiti.
The company that makes it all possible is called EcoCafé Haiti, which was originally created with the help of Christian Flights International. "EcoCafé Haiti was born through CFI as a nonprofit program, but transitioned to a for-profit organization," Durant says.
The company's website informs viewers of its mission statement: to enable economic self-sufficiency, cultivate land for food and restore the deforested ecological environment of a rural Haitian community.
"By purchasing our coffee, the interrelated problems of rural Haiti - economic, societal, and environmental problems - are solved simultaneously and holistically, not piecemeal," informs the website.
"What students will hear is an idea for sustainable enterprise, an organization that has a threefold purpose: profit, care for people and care for the planet," Durant says.
Durant, the founder of EcoCafé Haiti, visited Ranquitte, Haiti, which is the host village for EcoCafé, every several months for the last five years. According to Durant, "The trips last between 10 days and five weeks. I'll be going again in December."
Durant and all other Americans who work for EcoCafé (which is run through offices in Eugene) are not paid employees. "EcoCafé Haiti is a Haitian employee-owned company, the benefits of which accrue solely to our Haitian employees and the community of Ranquitte," says the website.
How was a rural village in Haiti chosen as the target for such a beneficial program? According to Durant, the Internet deserves the credit. "I was doing a web search trying to find an organization that had a need for economic development skills, where my background and experience could help. I knew I wanted to work in Haiti for some time."
Although the targeted community lies in the middle of a country that suffered one of the most devastating earthquakes in history last year, building the company in Raquitte has led to no regrets thus far.
"The community where I work has 20,000 people who live based on subsistence farming," Durant says. "We didn't feel the physical effects of the earthquake, because up north, many left their city to return to their rural roots." This movement flooded rural communities like Ranquitte, which grow by 1,000 people in a matter of weeks.
With Haiti's rural regions becoming overpopulated in the aftermath of the quake, and the land judged as unfit for farming, EcoCafe Haiti has even more motivation to pursue their mission as stated on the official website, " to enable economic self-sufficiency ... by simultaneously cultivating land for food and cash crops, and restoring the ecological environment."
To learn more about how EcoCafé Haiti is run, how to make contributions and how to get involved as a volunteer, attend the "Good Coffee, Good Cause" discussion hosted by Durant this Thursday.
"The community where I work has 20,000 people who live based on subsistence farming," Durant says. "We didn't feel the physical effects of the earthquake, because up north, many left their city to return to their rural roots." This movement flooded rural communities like Ranquitte, which grow by 1,000 people in a matter of weeks.
With Haiti's rural regions becoming overpopulated in the aftermath of the quake, and the land judged as unfit for farming, EcoCafe Haiti has even more motivation to pursue their mission as stated on the official website, " to enable economic self-sufficiency ... by simultaneously cultivating land for food and cash crops, and restoring the ecological environment."
To learn more about how EcoCafé Haiti is run, how to make contributions and how to get involved as a volunteer, attend the "Good Coffee, Good Cause" discussion hosted by Durant this Thursday.
Joce DeWitt, staff writer
737-2231, news@dailybarometer.com
737-2231, news@dailybarometer.com
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