{"id":496,"date":"2018-11-11T06:28:36","date_gmt":"2018-11-11T06:28:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardy-lavoie.com\/?p=496"},"modified":"2018-11-11T21:47:04","modified_gmt":"2018-11-11T21:47:04","slug":"coffee-for-a-cause","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardy-lavoie.com\/?p=496","title":{"rendered":"Coffee for a cause"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.worcestermag.com\/2012\/08\/30\/coffee-for-a-cause-167878425\"><strong><\/strong>*Originally published in Worcester Magazine on\u00a0Aug\u00a030,\u00a02012<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In a small storefront on High Street in Clinton sits Coffeelands World Gifts Caf\u00e9. More than just a coffee shop or gift store, World Gifts Caf\u00e9 brings global initiatives down to a local level with fair and direct trade coffees, teas, foods and crafts from around the world. Its unique approach to business lies in the hands of the Polus Center for Social and Economic Development, a nonprofit organization in Clinton that designs and executes community-based programs across the country and in many parts of the world. Since its founding in 1979, the Polus Center has continued to create opportunities for people with disabilities to become respected and contributing members within their communities.<\/p>\n<p>The Coffeelands World Gifts Caf\u00e9 opened December 2011 and was born out of the Coffeelands Trust, one of the many projects that have been implemented by the Polus Center. The Coffeelands Trust provides support directly to people who have been impacted by the remnants of war in coffee-growing regions across the world. Coffeelands World Gifts Caf\u00e9 also supports the families of these coffee growing regions by providing a market for their unique, handcrafted items in the caf\u00e9, with proceeds going directly back to these families as an alternative source of income. The funds that are raised through this initiative help pay for business grants, training, and the rehabilitation for victims of landmines. Locally, many of the proceeds from the caf\u00e9 support people with disabilities that are living right here in Massachusetts.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/images.bimedia.net\/images\/ND_Coffeelands.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" align=\"right\" hspace=\"10\" vspace=\"10\" \/>Caf\u00e9 Manager Michelle Miller explains that sometimes the connection between coffee and handmade gifts is not always an easy one to see, but that the community has been supportive of its mission since the opening. \u201cThere are a lot of great gift shops along this street; there is not one that combines gifts with coffee, and there isn\u2019t another specialty coffee shop around. A lot of people have been relieved to have a place where they can come and have a meeting, they can have a different atmosphere, and where they can feel they are contributing to their community and to a broader goal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Worcester resident and Clinton native Colleen Fitzgerald has visited the caf\u00e9 many times since its opening and makes certain to stop in whenever she is in the area. \u201cI believe that it is an excellent way to support a great cause. Locally, selling fair trade merchandise and employing special needs adults gives the community a face to a population they wouldn\u2019t typically get the chance to interact with,\u201d says Fitzgerald. \u201cIt allows a small community to gain knowledge and experience on a face-to-face level and literally confront the issue with each visit. Globally, it shows that individuals are invested in these issues and are making strides to effect what is in their power.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Selected items sold in the caf\u00e9 also come from local artisans from Clinton and surrounding Worcester County. \u201cMy goal is to know the faces behind every product that I sell,\u201d explains Miller. In an example of the direct trade that they participate in, Theresa Kane, who is the chief operating officer of the Polus Center, explains some of the lengths gone to in order to bring back wares that they can certify as directly traded. \u201cI went for 18 hours to the Amazon Jungle and met with the Apus, the chiefs, and had them hand me some of the necklaces that are in the caf\u00e9,\u201d she points out. Both Kane and Miller are proud that they have had the opportunity to be personally involved with many of the items that come into the caf\u00e9, and that they can vouch for the conditions under which these products were produced and contest to the fact that they are environmentally sustainable.<\/p>\n<p>The caf\u00e9 features fresh roasted coffee from Dean\u2019s Beans, an organic and fair-trade coffee company out of Orange, Mass. Fresh lunches are prepared daily and regional musical acts perform on Thursday nights from 7 to 8:30 p.m. A good portion of the caf\u00e9\u2019s directly traded products have come from many of the coffee-growing regions in South America and Africa, and some of the one-of-a-kind crafts sold include woodcarvings, purses, wallets, jewelry and scarves, as well as many other distinctive home d\u00e9cor items.<\/p>\n<p><em>Visit the caf\u00e9 at 50 High St., Clinton. For more information on the Polus Center and the World Gifts Caf\u00e9, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/poluscenter.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">poluscenter.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>*Originally published in Worcester Magazine on\u00a0Aug\u00a030,\u00a02012 In a small storefront on High Street in Clinton sits Coffeelands World Gifts Caf\u00e9. More than just a coffee shop or gift store, World Gifts Caf\u00e9 brings global initiatives down to a local level with fair and direct trade coffees, teas, foods and crafts from around the world. Its [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v17.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Coffee for a cause -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hardy-lavoie.com\/?p=496\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Coffee for a cause -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"*Originally published in Worcester Magazine on\u00a0Aug\u00a030,\u00a02012 In a small storefront on High Street in Clinton sits Coffeelands World Gifts Caf\u00e9. 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