MY coffee purchases can help change the World!!
1.) Camano Island Coffee Roasters pays more than real market pricing for the coffee we in turn offer to our Coffee Lover's Club members. We pay, on average, around 75% more than the established market price for the coffee we purchase. This is important because many coffee farmers can't afford to continue running their coffee farms due to pricing being driven down so much by large corporations that want nothing more than to make lots and lots of money. Our philosophy as a company is the more we can do to support the coffee farmer in their endeavors, the more they will do to bring us even better coffee.
Join our Coffee Lover's Club and partner with us to give something back to the families who grow our coffee. As a member, $1 of every package of coffee you order will be donated to Agros International which is an organization recognized for making a great difference in the lives of the people they serve. As a certified organic roaster, we are dedicated to supporting our customers with education about the issues that are related to the world of coffee. Organic coffee, fair trade coffee, shade grown coffee and other words and phrases become "buzzwords" and lose their meaning if not supported by a commitment and a promise that goes beyond marketing hype. At Camano Island Coffee Roasters, our commitment to roast coffee that is always organic, always fairly traded and always fresh is the same commitment we have in supporting the farmers we buy from and the people impacted by this industry.
2.) Self-reliance. It's a word that many Americans take for granted. Imagine if you had only one major source of income and a storm came through and destroyed that crucial crop, leaving you with nothing to take care of a family for over half a year. On top of that, you have nothing to resume your crop for the next year with. Camano Island Coffee Roasters (through our partnership with Agros - www.agros.org) aims to help alleviate those issues through teaching coffee farmers secondary trade skills and helping them learn how to start saving money in case disaster strikes.
The ability to take care of yourself and your family is such a non-issue for most of us that we couldn't fathom raising a family on a couple thousand dollars a year. Yet that is more than most coffee farmers have to raise their families and that is on a good year with a full crop. Since coffee is an agricultural product, it's subject to the same atrocities that can befall many different harvested crops. Unfortunately, from many of these third-world farmers, there is nothing to fall back on if that happens except for poverty. Many farmers lose their land when this happens and in a lot of cases, lose their families. Through our alliance with Agros, we are able to offer these coffee farmers hope again. We help them get back on their feet and help them regain ownership of their land. We use the philosophy of "give a man a fish and feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime" . The farmer pays back the loan (allowing Agros to continue doing these works) and learns concepts they've never known before such as savings and 2nd incomes. In many cases farmers go on to help out friends and family in the same manner. This greatly improves the way of life in these poverty stricken areas.
3.) Through self-reliance, infrastructure work, and direct relationships with these coffee farmers and their villages, we assist underprivileged nations in growing their own heritage. This heritage gives them a firm foundation to build a future and ultimately, change the way of life in these third-world countries.
Camano Island Coffee Roasters helps to build schools, medical facilities, water systems... and many other infrastructure pieces in the communities. This gives them something to build a heritage on. Something to start them on the right foot and keep them moving in a forward motion. Any one thing that can be done is not enough. They need the tools to continue on a forward motion. Camano Island Coffee Roasters is there to assist them and give them those tools.
