We Are All Seeds // Nacanu' Xhi'in
Project 2019-06-19 13:23:38 +1200
Who are we?
The Lucy Foundation is a New Zealand-based social enterprise transforming the global coffee industry by developing a value chain of coffee that is entirely disability inclusive, as well as environmentally, socially and economically sustainable.
What do we do?
We partner with coffee farming families in rural Mexico to help them grow healthier, stronger and higher yield crops. We also support disabled community members into training and employment within the local coffee industry.
But how...?
Well, in a nutshell (because we know you don’t have all day!) we use a twin-track approach.
Track one workshops are run by local agricultural experts. Workshops are open to the whole community, and designed in a way that means anyone of any ability, age, gender or background can participate in a full and meaningful way. Track one workshops are focused on environmental wellbeing, and the production of coffee: teaching and making organic fertilisers and treatments, harvesting techniques, picking processes etc.
Track two workshops, on the other hand, are designed to support disabled community members into training and employment, and the realisation of their human rights. Together with paid work experience, track two workshops help disabled people set goals and then provide opportunities to help develop the skills needed to reach their goals (for example: communication, health and safety, punctuality, literacy and numeracy, etc.). We’ve been told that track two workshop attendees want to establish their own sample coffee plot where they can host and teach track one agricultural workshops for the whole community, while also creating and selling organic fertiliser to local coffee farmers.
More still...
Coffee produced by local farmers is purchased by The Lucy Foundation Supply Chain and processed by disabled people and their families before being exported to New Zealand. Once in New Zealand, The Lucy Foundation partners with other organisations such as John Burton Ltd, Able Coffee Collaborative, Coffee Educators and Colab Cafe - who also support disability rights, inclusion and access - to roast, market and sell the coffee, thus completing the inclusive value chain.
Why we are excited?!...
After a successful roll out of Phase One in 2016 - 2017, where the focus was on establishing The Lucy Foundation team in Mexico, nurturing disability inclusiveness and trust building within the wider community, Phase Two (2017 - 2018) continued this work with an increased focus on environmental regeneration and agriculture practices to support healthier coffee crops. We are now in our third phase, where the focus is increased employment opportunities for disabled people, while scaling the coffee supply chain to a sustainable business model whereby we have enough coffee to export to New Zealand to cover the ongoing costs of the twin-track workshops.
What will the money go towards?
All the money raised from this crowdfunding campaign will go towards the operating costs on the ground in Mexico. It costs approximately $2,500 per month to host workshops, rent a teaching and storage space, maintain our ute which is used to transport disabled people and move equipment between workshops, and process the coffee. These costs are partially covered by the generous donations of a dedicated team, but in order to continue the workshops until the end of 2019 we need to fundraise AT LEAST $6,000… but preferably $10,000.
And if that's not enough to convince you, here are some photos of our amazing global team of TLF volunteers, crew, and business partners, helping grow the Pluma Coffee Project into a thriving, strong and sustainable social enterprise...
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