From the President’s desk:
“The birth of the Coffee Arabica Foundation for Education (CAFE) scholarship program started in 2005 while I was savoring a delicious cup of organic Honduran coffee with my husband and my mother. At that moment, I knew we could not keep such a heavenly experience just for us, and I had to share my discovery with everyone.
Falling in love with the coffee meant that I had to learn everything about the product and the people who bestow us such a treat. I found out that the main sources of income for the families living in El Merendón mountains are from the coffee plantations and vegetable crops. Even though the farmers pride themselves with the usage of organic techniques for the growth of their coffee and vegetables, their efforts of conserving their environment and producing quality products barely gives them enough income to feed their family.
Because of their topography and poorly maintained dirt roads, most of the communities can only be accessed by four-wheel drive vehicles, their access to health services is very limited and their public education ends with 6th grade.
Within several years into the journey of the creation of CAFE, we had a committed team that helped to make possible the creation of a 501 (c) (3) charitable public organization and to be able to better serve the people of El Merendón and Honduras.
Getting to know the people of El Merendón allowed CAFE to investigate the grim outlook for young people of El Merendón mountains. In 2009, the scholarship program was born to benefit rural communities of El Perú, Peñitas Arriba, San Antonio, Berlín I, Berlín II, Suyapita , and Las Crucitas I. These communities are benefited in two ways; first, by being selected to receive scholarships from our scholarship program, we facilitate the education of their children by raising the funds to pay for the student’s tuition, books, transport, and internships, and second, by choosing the coffee they produce as our ongoing fundraising tool, we stimulate their local economy and increase their margin of profit with the ongoing market coffee price and direct trade policy we follow.
Our commitment is to help Honduran children to fulfill their dreams of education in order to break the poverty cycle that has endured for generations.”
