Community_Main

Community

Since its inception, community outreach has been central to Ethical Bean’s core values, with a focus on children, education and the arts both locally and internationally. Every year a portion of the proceeds from Ethical Bean Coffee sales go to support two non-profit organizations, Child Aid and Project Somos.

Child Aid


Child-Aid’s FUNDIT program provides children in Guatemala with the finances for school registration fees, uniforms, school supplies, shoes, and textbooks, and when needed, transportation costs and health care.

Monica Azucena, a Child Aid scholarship recipient, is in her second year of studying at Rafael Landivar University, and plans to be a preschool teacher when she graduates. She received FUNDIT scholarships and is currently working as a teaching assistant at CEDIN to help pay for university. She is the first in her family to make it through high school (not to mention university). Monica’s father died when she was seven, and her mother makes a living selling tortillas and carrying firewood. Without scholarships, school would have been impossible for Monica.

Since 2003, we have raised over $64,000, providing more than 500 educational scholarships for Guatemalan grade-schoolers. FUNDIT was recently renamed the Ethical Bean Coffee Scholarship Fund.

 

Project Somos

Project Somos is working towards building a Children’s Village in Guatemala for the county’s increasing number of orphaned and abandoned children. The project utilizes a synergistic approach using social, psychological, educational, artistic, and vocational tools to encourage the healthy development of children.

The project also aims to be ecologically and financially sustainable. Small businesses – social enterprises – will be established and money earned will go back into supporting the village so that, long term, it will no longer be dependent on donations and grants.

As a member of Project Somos’ Board of Directors, Lloyd has recently returned from Guatemala, consulting in the on-going purchase of land for the project. We are thrilled to announce that in December, 2010, Project Somos has completed the purchase of 160 acres near the town of Tecpan and will now enter into the next phase of the project: construction of the village! Since 2008, Ethical Bean has raised over $36,000 for Project Somos.

 

Local Community Involvement

Ethical Bean Coffee’s commitment to supporting local community organizations has taken on a number of forms, focusing primarily in the arts. Through coffee donations in 2010, we have helped support and promote local organizations, assisting in raising over $30,000.

 

The Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education draws inspiration from the 14th Dalai Lama, who tirelessly promotes the idea of creating an Age of Peace and Dialogue, rather than one of violence and scarcity. In 2005, the Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education was established in Vancouver, BC as a secular charitable trust to provide a forum for thought leaders to convene and share leading ideas toward this vision of a century of peace through “education of the heart”: compassion, empathy, community-mindedness, and mindful awareness of the welfare of others.

  “A partnership with the Dalai Lama Center is an opportunity to inspire both our home community of Vancouver and an international audience to the importance of building caring communities that raise compassionate and mindful children. I am convinced that educating the heart is important to responding to the challenges of the environment, and promoting fairness and equality”, says Schachte.

 

The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra‘s mission is to enrich the quality of life in and bring prestige to our city, province and country through the presentation of high-quality performances of classical and popular music, and the delivery of excellent education and community programs.

 

 

Beyond these, we are thrilled to sponsor Theatre Under the Stars, The Vancouver International Film Festival, HUB and Bike to Work Week. We also regularly respond to requests for assistance with the fundraising efforts of schools and community organizations both large and small.

 

 

Looking for support for your upcoming event? Contact us to talk to our community events coordinator about your eligibility.