No one had ever mailed me a package before
Posted by Winston on 02 Sep 2009 at 12:47 pm | Tagged as: Fair Trade
Lindsey Bolger, Green Mountain Coffee's Director of Coffee, cups with Juan Francisco Valladerez, Fair Trade coffee farmer
This from a 58 year Fair Trade coffee farmer from northern Nicaragua. A few months ago we posted an article about Juan Francisco Valladerez that featured a letter he wrote describing his life. We were so touched by his letter, a bunch of employees wrote back to him, I translated the letters, I bundled them up with a GMCR calendar and some stuff with our logo and mailed it to his coop – UCPCO - asking them to deliver it to him.
On top of mailing things to him, we asked his coop to come visit us and bring Juan with them. It took awhile, but we got him up here. When we finally had the chance to meet Juan in person, of course I was dying to ask, “did you get the letters we sent?”
He said, “Yes, I did. No one has ever mailed me a package before and it made me really happy to get so many letters from you. And then when the coop told me you wanted to meet me, I couldn’t believe it – I would never have imagined being invited to the United States to visit with you.”
Needless to say, it was his first trip out of Nicaragua , his first plane ride, the first time he ever had hot pancakes with Vermont maple syrup at the Old Stagecoach Inn. And the first time he ever cupped coffee.
Tasting and evaluating coffee with your customer, the buyer, might seem normal for you, but there are millions of coffee farmers who never get to meet the person or company who is buying their coffee and even less frequently do they have the opportunity to visit and talk shop at the same table, in the same time zone, on a level playing field.
Thanks to the Fair Trade movement and to our customers who ask for the best and the fairest, Juan was able to do just that.
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Try some of our coffee that might have some of Juan’s coffee in it.
Great story and great picture!
It’s nice to know that GMCR cares and does things like this for the growers. Thanks for the story.
What a heart warming story. I love what Green Mountain Coffee stands for. My wife and I just visited the visitors center today and we both found it very interesting. It is very admirable what this company is doing for the employees locally and the coffee farmers from around the globe. Keep up the fantastic job!