Hockley Valley Coffee’s “Giving Program” Supporting Our Community of Coffee Growers
We’ve referred to our giving program several times throughout this website but if you’d like to learn more and/or learn how you can become involved, read about it here. We’re always available to talk about our initiative and Wally, our Master Roaster and the person who travels to Latin America most frequently, would be happy to share some of his personal stories
Since it’s inception, HVC supported an industry agency that helped coffee growers in Latin America, an area rife with poverty. When that organization relocated its headquarters to the high rent New York City area, Wally thought hard about where the money was really going and a partnership with the particularly hard hit village of Salcaja, Quetzaltenango Guatemala was born. Focussed on one of the poorest schools in a pueblo outside of Xela (in the Guatemalan highlands) called Caserio El Tigre, Wally met the Principal who shared some of the stories of the appalling conditions people in the area experienced.
What started as the sponsorship of 4 children quickly grew as HVC customers joined in to sponsor two more. Now, 21 children are sponsored through our joint efforts! While not exclusive, we focus a majority of our efforts on supporting young girls to complete their education as a means of escaping poverty.
HVC has also proudly sponsored the renovations of the school in the community with improvements that included the purchase of a fridge, proper stove ventilation and facilitating the economical purchase of bulk food items for school lunches. On the recommendation of the school’s principal, HVC and a private patron helped to rebuild the home of a particularly impoverished family who needed our support.
Families we help sign a contract with us committing to keeping their children in school and the kids commit to attendance and grades. We were even able to attend the graduation of one of our sponsored young adults before Covid impacted the ability to travel.
All the children of the school are also provided with daily vitamins and Hockley Valley Coffee absorbs all the administrative costs associated with the program. A dollar donated is a dollar received in Guatemala.
Finally, we also recently began sponsoring an entrepreneurship program enabling families to become even more self-sufficient. We buy vaccinated poults (baby chicks) and provide them to participants who are then given help by local experts in how to feed, care and house the chicks. A fully grown chicken is worth about the equivalent of $15.00 and can produce income for a family through their eggs or as a consumable. One of our biggest success stories is a widow who turned her donated flock into 50 chickens, a hatchery and egg laying/sales operation!
HVC – The Socially Conscious Coffee Company