Help Martina's Community Continue Growing Coffee!
Donation protected
DONATE FOR CHANGE
*** UPDATE: I am sorry to say I have no more coffee to send as a thank you to those who donate $40 or more. ***
Please donate to support my community and empower my family of farmers to take back the coffee industry!
ABOUT THIS PROJECT:
My name is Martina Pablo. I am from Todos Santos, Guatemala. I am part of the indigenous Mam community. I came to the US in 2017 to pursue my education. I am now a senior in high school in Oakland, CA. My parents are small coffee farmers in Todos Santos. Life has always been an ongoing financial struggle for us. My parents, like many in our town, own a small piece of property where they grow their coffee to sell to a middleman who then sells it to a larger company. Most indigenous farmers in my town are illiterate as a result of discriminatory education policies in Guatemala. As result, they're often taken advantage of by middlemen who pay low prices for their product. As a child, I felt angry as I watched my father negotiate with these buyers who didn’t respect him or his work. These middlemen pays less than $1.50 per pound of coffee.
Growing coffee is very time and labor intensive. My parents have become discouraged by the small profit for so much work. All of the profits from this project will go directly to my family in Todos Santos so they can pay a fair wage to people who help them harvest, to buy supplies for planting new trees, and to show the farmers in Todos Santos that when they are fairly represented at the end of the coffee supply chain, they can make the profit they deserve!
My dream is to change the coffee industry in Todos Santos. As a person from a farming community, I want to dedicate my career in the United States to advocating for farmers in this massive global industry. I believe farmers deserve an advocate who looks like them, an advocate who knows how hard they work, and an advocate they trust.
I started this project as a way to model the change I wish to see in the coffee industry. Last year, I worked with the Oakland Catholic Worker community to bring 200 pounds of coffee from my town to California. But there is much more to do beyond the harvest. Over the last year, I have been an intern at Red Bay Coffee in Oakland, CA. Carla Mancio trained me in coffee tasting, roasting, and best practices in harvesting and cleaning coffee beans. In the last few months I tasted the coffee for special notes, designed a label, roasted, and packaged these same beans (with the help of many others). So here comes your part!
I’m trying to raise $5,000 for the farmers to support this effort. I was offering a bag of roasted whole coffee beans to anyone who donated $40 and above, but I'm sorry -- and grateful -- to say my supply is now depleted. But I hope you will still support my community by making a donation.
IN GRATITUDE:
Thank you to Red Bay Coffee, Carla Mancio, the Oakland Catholic Worker, Ignacio Ochoa, Gladys Pappa, Sonya Yruel (Sequoia’s mom), Kate Lassalle-Klein, the Lassalle-Klein family, and most importantly, my family.
I dedicate this project to my parents Modesto and Manuela Pablo-Mendoza, my sister Dominga Pablo, and my whole community in Todos Santos.
*** UPDATE: I am sorry to say I have no more coffee to send as a thank you to those who donate $40 or more. ***
Please donate to support my community and empower my family of farmers to take back the coffee industry!
ABOUT THIS PROJECT:
My name is Martina Pablo. I am from Todos Santos, Guatemala. I am part of the indigenous Mam community. I came to the US in 2017 to pursue my education. I am now a senior in high school in Oakland, CA. My parents are small coffee farmers in Todos Santos. Life has always been an ongoing financial struggle for us. My parents, like many in our town, own a small piece of property where they grow their coffee to sell to a middleman who then sells it to a larger company. Most indigenous farmers in my town are illiterate as a result of discriminatory education policies in Guatemala. As result, they're often taken advantage of by middlemen who pay low prices for their product. As a child, I felt angry as I watched my father negotiate with these buyers who didn’t respect him or his work. These middlemen pays less than $1.50 per pound of coffee.
Growing coffee is very time and labor intensive. My parents have become discouraged by the small profit for so much work. All of the profits from this project will go directly to my family in Todos Santos so they can pay a fair wage to people who help them harvest, to buy supplies for planting new trees, and to show the farmers in Todos Santos that when they are fairly represented at the end of the coffee supply chain, they can make the profit they deserve!
My dream is to change the coffee industry in Todos Santos. As a person from a farming community, I want to dedicate my career in the United States to advocating for farmers in this massive global industry. I believe farmers deserve an advocate who looks like them, an advocate who knows how hard they work, and an advocate they trust.
I started this project as a way to model the change I wish to see in the coffee industry. Last year, I worked with the Oakland Catholic Worker community to bring 200 pounds of coffee from my town to California. But there is much more to do beyond the harvest. Over the last year, I have been an intern at Red Bay Coffee in Oakland, CA. Carla Mancio trained me in coffee tasting, roasting, and best practices in harvesting and cleaning coffee beans. In the last few months I tasted the coffee for special notes, designed a label, roasted, and packaged these same beans (with the help of many others). So here comes your part!
I’m trying to raise $5,000 for the farmers to support this effort. I was offering a bag of roasted whole coffee beans to anyone who donated $40 and above, but I'm sorry -- and grateful -- to say my supply is now depleted. But I hope you will still support my community by making a donation.
IN GRATITUDE:
Thank you to Red Bay Coffee, Carla Mancio, the Oakland Catholic Worker, Ignacio Ochoa, Gladys Pappa, Sonya Yruel (Sequoia’s mom), Kate Lassalle-Klein, the Lassalle-Klein family, and most importantly, my family.
I dedicate this project to my parents Modesto and Manuela Pablo-Mendoza, my sister Dominga Pablo, and my whole community in Todos Santos.
Organizer and beneficiary
Rose Lassalle-Klein
Organizer
Alameda, CA
Martina Pablo Pablo
Beneficiary