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Nesting Grounds Coffee House of Wyoming, Minnesota |
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Written by Jim Mericle, Owner
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After my wife and I traveled on an educational trip with Lutheran World Relief and Equal Exchange to Nicaragua in 2004, we came back with the desire to encourage Fair Trade wherever we can because of the positive difference we saw it making in small farmers’ lives. First our church became a part of the Lutheran World Relief Coffee Project which partners with Equal Exchange. Then after some prayer and discussion, we decided to see if we could run a coffee house that would serve only Fair Trade certified coffee, become a community gathering place, treat employees fairly, and still turn a profit.
We bought the existing local coffee house and went forward with our plans. And the response has been very positive. Slowly we are making people more aware of the impact their purchases have on the producers and are also helping to better connect coffee drinkers with the coffee's people and countries of origin.
Today we proudly partner with Equal Exchange as we serve their excellent quality coffee and continue to receive great service and support from the Equal Exchange staff. |
Jim Mericle, Owner of Nesting Grounds,
depulping coffee cherries in Nicaragua
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