September 2013 Coffee News

-Transitions
-New Drivers
-Climate Action -- Timely Topics Series
-Coffee Fundraisers

September always seems to be a time of transitions; a shift in the seasons; kids going back to school restoring routines after the lazy pace of summer. This year our family had a bigger than usual transition with our oldest going off to college for the first time. After a few days of tears on our part and homesickness on his, we all seem to be adapting to the change. Since our business is built on relationships, we have been honored over the years to hear about many of our customers' life transitions and we reflect a bit on that below. We also address the more practical matter of evolving delivery routes now that our three high school drivers have graduated from high school and gone off on new adventures.

Transitions
Over the 12 years we've been in business, we've had the opportunity to learn of any number of momentous events in the lives of our customers. We've heard the exciting news of weddings, new houses and new babies. We've learned the sad news of a job loss, a divorce or a death in the family. This past month we were very sad to learn that one of our most loyal coffee customers (1 - 5lb bag of coffee pretty much every month since we started our delivery route 12 years ago) just passed away. We send our deepest condolences to his wife and family! Perhaps the universe wants to balance things out, because we also learned last month that another customer of ours is down in Honduras adopting her first child! Thank you for letting us be a small part of your lives all these many years. May your joys in life be more numerous than your sorrows.

New Drivers
For the past year and a half, our son and two of his friends have ably assisted with our monthly deliveries. All three of them are now off on new adventures -- college for two of them and a year in Norway for the other. We wish them all the best! Thankfully, we don't need to scramble to try to deliver all 175+ coffee orders between the two of us. We are pleased to have two young women, Ruth and Siri, who will be helping us out with some of our St. Paul deliveries starting this month. Our middle son, Jake, will also be doing a small route (with his dad until he gets his independent license in January). We ask for your patience while we adjust our delivery routes and our new drivers learn their way around. Because of school and sports schedules, some of their deliveries may be completed on a Saturday or Thursday from time to time. We will alert you each month if your coffee delivery date will be anything other than the typical 2nd Friday of the month.

Climate Action - Timely Topics Series
We've been sharing climate action tips these past few months and we hope they have been useful. Because change can be difficult, it is good to join with others to gain courage, inspiration and advice. With this in mind, Cathy has been busy working with her church, Prospect Park United Methodist, to plan a Timely Topics Series called "From Fear to Faithful Action: Building Resilience in a Time of Climate Change." (See her article about the series just posted on the Twin Cities Daily Planet.) Starting September 15, we will be gathering for community conversations in the church fellowship hall from 6:30-8:00 pm on the 3rd Sunday of the month from September through March. The series is free and open to the public. To learn more and for an abundance of resources on everything from local energy to local food; alternative economies to empowerment politics and more, visit the series website. We hope to see you there!

School Fundraisers
With school back in session, we've been hearing from many of our regular coffee fundraisers that they are getting geared up to sell coffee again. If your school or organization is interested in selling Velasquez Family Coffee to raise funds for your projects, check out our Fundraiser page on our website or contact us at coffee@vfamilycoffee.com. We'd be happy to work with you to develop a fundraiser that works for your group. We're also pleased to have our coffee included in Smude's Locally Grown fundraiser catalog. If you are interested in a new local twist on catalog sales for your school or other group, be sure to check it out.