Join Matt in Continuing Richard's Legacy

I'm Matt Bishop, founder of Café Mulé, and I'm raising funds for Richard II. Why is there an imminent need for a Richard II... ? or who is Richard to begin with... ? Please read on.

As a Marine Corps officer serving in Iraq in 2005 and 2006, I often had to bond quickly with people who didn't speak the same language or share the same culture. Luckily, when I went into these peoples' homes and lives as a part of my mission, I was often offered a cup of tea. That's where I discovered the power of connection that is created by taking a few moments to share a beverage with someone else, and it very well may have even saved the lives of my Marines and I on more than one occasion.

After later serving as an Army Special Forces officer and ultimately leaving the military nine years ago to settle in Boise, ID, a vision of bringing people from my own community in America together over a cup of coffee in the great outdoors started to grow in my heart. Based on that vision, I started to take some big risks with a small available budget. I bamboozled my wife into letting me buy a mule off of Craigslist, a horse trailer, and a whole bunch of tack and coffee brewing gear. And then, in the summer of 2016, I served free coffee on the Foothills trails above Boise on 18 separate weekends.

(photo courtesy of Shane Davila)

What started to develop around me became more than I ever could have imagined. The power of a little bit of generosity and that cup of coffee really did spread cheer and build connections. People started seeking us out, a LOT of people, and in the subsequent years we would put on roughly 45 of these trail services, giving out coffee to any and all who ventured to us. And the discount, slightly older, slightly run-down and hard to keep, Craigslist-ed mule that I'd purchased from a seasoned horse trader (who for sure thought he had gotten the upper hand in the negotiation) rose to become something greater than his former mule self. He became Richard the Mule: a patient, affectionate, and hardworking partner and community asset who was always ready to build connections of his own on the trails. Richard became special to a lot of people in our community. And to me personally, he became a great healer and teacher of lessons that I often didn’t even know I needed to learn until he demonstrated otherwise. Richard has made me a better parent and leader. I love Richard immensely and will forever be grateful for our ride together.

Sadly, Richard, will be going to a pack string in the sky within a few months. The loads there are always light and consist of uncovered alfalfa that you can turn back and take a bite out of at any time, and a mule never feels fatigue or thirst on this string. While he is happy for the moment, Richard has a fairly aggressive cancer that can't be treated humanely given its location. We likely have a matter of a few months with him before it impedes his ability to eat comfortably and maintain himself.

When Richard departs us there will be a massive void in our hearts, and there will be a void, practically in our team. We took on Eugene the five year old mammoth donkey from a donkey rescue last year to carry the load for Richard as he got older. Donkeys are social animals and need a horse, donkey, or mule comrade to bond with to be at their happiest. We assumed that Richard would be that companion for quite some time yet, but when Richard passes, Eugene will lose that. We'll never find an animal that fills Richard's mule shoes; but we want to give Eugene the best buddy we can. Additionally, there are character traits in Richard, and mules in general, that we are looking to maintain in our team. We need a Richard II (true name TBD).

As our trail services became popular, I found myself spending nearly all my time in the summer of 2016 working to give coffee away on the weekends. That started to become financially unsustainable, and I decided to build a coffee business around us: Café Mulé. With that business, we have donated to trail maintenance organizations since inception, even in the multiple early years where we were so tight that every bit of money had to be re-invested in the business, leaving me with nothing. (Huge shout out to my loving wife, here—she didn’t let me starve.) We are now a little bigger, employing six people in Boise, Idaho and donating around $6,000 a year across 19 different trail organizations across the West. But… we are still very much a business based on real (and often brutal) economics. Coffee is competitive, and our donations don’t leave a lot of extra cash in the business to take care of our people and acquire a new mule in a mule market that is, and will be, incredibly pricey for the foreseeable future.

We have been community focused from the first cup of coffee we ever gave out on the trail, to our ongoing trail maintenance donations we are generating every day from our packaged coffee. And Richard… it was a community who built him through lots of ear scratches and carrots, and stoking us on every week in those early days to keep going with our trailside coffee services, reinforcing to us that we were a part of something special.

So, in this hour, we are turning to our community to build on this legacy and very literally bring about Richard II through your support. If you have enjoyed a cup of coffee from us on the trails, enjoy our coffees in your home, or just think what we do is fun and beneficial, we’d ask you to donate to help us continue on with Richard’s legacy.

We are asking you to donate right now, because we have a particular opportunity in the coming week to purchase a mule who literally, found us. While I was selling coffee at the Mule Days festival in Bishop, CA a few weeks back, I took a break to walk through the mule paddocks, and a yearling mule called “Scotty” reached his head through the bars to engage with me and receive a bit of affection. Throughout the week, I stopped in to spend time with this mule each day, and it became apparent that he shares many of the same personable traits that our beloved Richard does. Scotty has also been well socialized by students in the UC Davis Ag Department, making him a great candidate to be an unflappable and safe mule for participating in our future trail services. Scotty goes up for sale for only one day, this Sunday, 23 June with proceeds going to the UC Davis Ag program. You can help buy a mule and donate to education. Please help us bring this mule home to the Boise trail community with your generous donation.

*If we are not successful in purchasing Scotty this coming weekend, we will use funds raised here to find an equally suitable and young mule by the end of the summer.

Thank you!