Posted in December 4th, 2009
By admin
This evening my family and I had 2 World War II Veterans and their spouses over for dinner. We were also privileged to have our friend “Granny”, who is 90 join us.
The WWII Vets are my dad who is 85 and Jim a friend from church who is 88. These two men sacrificed for our freedom. They gave their courage, their strength and their youth for you and me. They stood up, signed up and made a difference. Granny sacrificed too. Her husband died of a war related illness shortly after returning home.
Our veterans from World War II are dying at the rate of about 1,000 per day. Take some time and ask a veteran in your area about his life while you still can. Ask what they did during the war, what it was like and how they are now. Thank them and listen!
Jim was a gunner on board a ship and was one of the first to find that the Japanese Kamikaze pilots had armored planes. How did he find out? Every 7th bullet had a tracer. He noticed that the tracers were bouncing off the airplanes. An important discovery for the United States.
My Dad was an engineer in the army. Providing the British troops with needed supplies, weapons and support and to defend the free world.
Pretty important stuff protecting us and making a stand against the terrors of Nazism.
There are a lot of older people around who have done important, life changing, world changing things which you and I should be thankful for.
Take time today to recognize and respect someone over 70, over 80, over 90. Ask them a question.
In fact buy them a cup of coffee.
Jonathan
Posted in November 13th, 2009
By admin
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With out it we can become very reactionary. Stress produces stereotypical thinking and reduces creative thinking.
When we are stressed or experiencing a busy time at work and home it is all the more important to think creatively.
These are the times though when we become reactionary and tend to not take time to rest, think and pray. Carving out time for margin to allow your self to rest, think and pray will allow you to discover a solution, to work smarter and more creatively.
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Margin, take time today.
Drink Coffee. Do Good.
J
Posted in November 11th, 2009
By admin
Every once in a while, members of the Land of a Thousand Hills team like to sit down with social entrepreneurs—someone helping ease unjust conditions in the world—and listen to the story of how they do good. Recently, we met a beautiful young Indian woman named Sreeratna Kancherla at Roswell Coffee House. Sreeratna, who goes by Sree, was in Georgia only for a short trip to visit family and celebrate a wedding. Sree was leaving the next day to return to India, where for the past several years, she has worked to find markets for the handmade goods of Indian women, has taught the power of positive thinking through dance and meditation, and has rescued orphans from the streets of India’s most depraved slums. Her story is empowering, not only to our coffee company, but also to people who desire to do something meaningful for humanity, to leave a loving footprint on a soil desperate for justice.
Although Sree grew up in America, she went back to her native India to help teach women and children the power of education, business, creative arts, positive thinking, and self-expression. Her family asked her why—why she would go back to India after they had worked so hard to bring her an American education, the American Dream. “They want to work hard, too,” Sree said of the people she works with in India. “They want to do things for themselves. They want to work hard to pay for their own child’s education. They just need someone to tell them where to sell their stuff or how to work harder.”
Sree received her Bachelor’s Degree in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing from Emory University in Atlanta and her Law Degree from the New England Law School in Boston. During her stint at Law School, the United Nations created the International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda to prosecute rebel groups in post-genocide Rwanda. The Tribunal was severely understaffed, so the UN reached out to professors in Boston to provide research for the prosecution. Sree joined a team of faculty and students that researched issues like, When did the situation in Rwanda become an international issue? When did the genocide begin? When Belgium gave Rwanda guns? After Law School, Sree was selected to go to Tanzania to continue her work, but when September 11th, 2001 left America in a state of panic and terror mere weeks before her departure, Sree and her family decided it was in her best interest to stay in the U.S. Sree landed a job at a prestigious law firm instead.
After a short time kick starting her career by climbing the corporate ladder, Sree became restless thinking about the issues that plagued her home country: trafficked women and children, poverty, poor education. Because she needed to understand the issues unfolding in India, not just the ideas in her head, Sree left the comfort of a steady paycheck from corporate America and traveled to India where she slept on her aunt’s floor.
During the past two years in India, Sree has worked with an organization called Social Impact, which identifies social entrepreneurs and helps them do things like write a business plan. Part of her job includes going into rural villages and urban slums and learning about issues that other organizations are working on. She connects them to funding and finds markets for their products, bringing their business to scale.
Before working with Social Impact, Sree led drama workshops for trafficked children, helped woman bring their jewelry to market, became certified in Indian dance therapy, taught yoga and mediation (and the power of positive thinking) to women, and volunteered for a doctor who rescued orphans from the streets. But Sree’s passion lies in education. Education in self-expression, in dance, in positive thinking, and in English.
“Every woman in India knows that education is the way out of poverty. The ones I worked with never really had an opportunity because they were supposed to get married at the age of fourteen or fifteen, or they’ve been working as a housemaid since they were eight.” When Sree helped women receive microfinance loans to make jewelry, she knew the women weren’t making jewelry for the sake of making jewelry—a privilege we often overlook in America—but they made it to send their children to a private school. Unlike public schools in India, private schools have English programs. Women also know that the 100 dollars a year it takes to attend a private school will be well worth the cost—the success of their children relies on learning English.
Sree warned that everything is not about money. “It’s also about what’s going on in your spirit,” she said. Through teaching dance, drama, yoga, and meditation, Sree encouraged her students to introspect on the elements they can change within themselves. The power of positive thinking can help them find education, self-expression, and peace. “Here, in America, depression will soon be the number one killer, not heart disease.” Sree said. “What does that say about our spiritual health?”
She then suggested that perhaps America’s emphasis on individualism is a weakness, in contrast to India’s almost tribal dependence on community. “Somehow,” Sree shared, “things don’t seem as tragic in India because there is a sense of community. We are responsible for each other.” The economic level in India makes people realize that they have to work together. Even in poverty, there is a strong reliance on community and shared humanity. “Maybe in our own financial crises,” Sree says of the United States, “we will learn how to come together again.”
Sree’s latest project is trying to connect India with the coffee business. Although the country is mainly known for tea, one lone region—Assam—grows coffee. As Sree works to grow the industry by finding markets for Indian coffee, she calculates how many cups of coffee it would take per day to pay for a year of private school education—10 cups per day can educate 70 children a year.
As we finished our conversation at the Coffee House and sipped the lingering froth from our Rwandan cappuccinos, she said something really beautiful that strikes the heart of what we do at Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee™ and what she does in India. “I’m convinced every human being really wants to give and really wants to help. They just don’t know how to do it. They can just write a check but there is not enough gratification in that.”
Drink Coffee. How can you Do Good?
Posted in November 11th, 2009
By admin
“So little done-so much to do.”
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It would be a sad thing to think at the end of your life that you had much to do but accomplished very little. The question, though, is this: Have what we’ve done and what we are doing been on purpose? We want to know that our actions fit with our Lifeswork and that we are investing in those people, places, and projects that are important to us. Too often, we get distracted and spend time and energy in things that in the end just don’t matter. How much better to instead invest in what counts. Then, at the end of our lives, we can say that we made a difference and that we succeeded in doing much.
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What really matters to you?
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How will you invest in these priorities today?
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Jonathan
Posted in November 9th, 2009
By admin
This evening my family and I drove back from Savannah where we watched my oldest son, Jonathan’s soccer game. Jonathan is not the fastest guy on his team, he’s not the most aggressive and he’s not the biggest. He is skilled though, he is strategic and he is faithful. He can play any offensive position and he plays his position well.
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Today’s game was a tough one and well into the second half we were losing 1-0. Then we scored on a penalty kick. With less than eight minutes to go a teammate of Jonathan’s attempted a shot, Jonathan was in his position, rebounded the shot and with a sideways volley (a move that requires extending your left leg out like a frog and kicking with the side of your foot) he scored!
I’ll never forget the look of sure, secure, pride and confidence on his face after he made the winning goal and was met with high fives by his teammates.
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Until that point in the game Jonathan had been playing his position, had done well but hadn’t had any real noticeable impact nor action. He kept playing consistently though and at the right time who he was, where he was and what he was able to do all came together.
Too often in our work and life we get impatient with who we are, with the skills we have and the responsibilities we fulfill. I sometimes want to play other positions, I want to break set and find the action. If you and I though stay faithful to our gifts, to our roles and our calling, there will come a time when we are needed just as we are. It will feel great and we will make a great difference.
Drink Coffee. Do Good. Stay Faithful.
Jonathan
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Posted in November 6th, 2009
By admin
Things will break; at times you will feel disappointment and coffee roasters will catch fire. What matters is what you choose to do during these times of fracture. What will those around you do? How will redemption be engaged?
Tonight our 45 lb coffee roaster had a drumfire. Daniel, our Roast Master kept a cool head, he quickly closed the drum door, turned off the blower to prevent the fire from being drawn up the chimney and onto the roof and then grabbed the fire extinguisher. In the midst of the smoke he calmly put out the fire.
Quickly, several members of our team came to the Coffee House to make sure everything was OK as customers had to vacate and Fireman inspected the premises. Some of our employees were off the clock and they didn’t have to come in but they wanted to help.
Shawn, a friend who works for another coffee company stopped in. His family called him at work to say they saw fire trucks at Land of a Thousand Hills. He wanted to make sure everything was OK and then kindly offered to help us out tomorrow by roasting some of our orders at his company.
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Redemption is the good stuff that happens not in spite of brokenness and failure but after it. When bad things happen good people step up and help to redeem the situation.
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Posted in November 2nd, 2009
By admin
The word “local” used to be an adjective you heard a lot. Your local church, the local Pastor, the local pub, your local hardware store, and your local coffee house.
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Local means “pertaining to, characteristic of, or restricted to a particular place or position.” It also means “the center or source.” The people who frequent these “local” places restrict themselves to and invest their lives in the establishment. This means that when I stop by my local hardware store–Roswell Hardware–I see Frank and Jay. When I go to my local pub–the Harp–I see Ray, Mary, Jackie, and Willy. And when I go to my local church–St Peter’s Place–I see my friends that that have become family after worshiping together for years.
Local places frame my life and it is the people in these places that make them my place. The thing is, the people that run and work and worship in these local establishments commit and restrict their lives in some fashion to provide and serve, and I am thankful for them.
If you have local people and places in your life, thank them. Thank them for showing up day after day, year after year, to serve you and to frame your life.
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Local places are far and few between with larger and larger churches, stores, and restrurants. Being local still has a niche, though. They are there for people that want real relationships with real people.
Drink Coffee. Do Good. Live Local.
J
Posted in October 29th, 2009
By admin
Today was a busy day and a very hard day. I dealt with both business issues and personal issues. Several meetings, several phone calls, coffee cupping, signing contracts, making payroll, relationship challenges, and a Treasure.
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My old friend Gordon came by the Coffee House just as I was finishing up a tough, but necessary meeting. I say “old friend” because we’ve known each other for about 20 years and he is 93. Gordon walked up the hill to where I “hold court” on our hill. President Paul Kagame of Rwanda says that nothing of significance happens in Rwanda unless it happens on a hill, so I built one at Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee Company. I put a table on our hill so significant things could take place there.
Gordon walked up the hill and apologized for not letting me know his wife Mickey had died and for not inviting me to the funeral. It just slipped his mind. Mickey died around a month ago, and here he was concerned about me. Treasure.
I asked Gordon how he was doing and he said okay, until he starts thinking about Mickey, which is a lot of the time. I asked him how they met those 68 years ago and he shared with joy the story of double dating and how they were competitive until he realized he had to let her win.
I then talked to him about his days in the service during WWII. Gordon was with the Ghost Army and literally went around Europe with inflatable tanks and rubber guns and a phonograph to make the Nazis think they were a large battalion. The Ghost Army diverted the Nazis, and then they would disassemble everything and run!
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Many of the challenges I faced today seemed real, seemed important, but they distracted me from what is really real: grace, goodness, and God.
Gordon stopped by for a brief hour or so and reminded me of what is real. Grace, Goodness, God & Gordon. Thanks friend, you are a Treasure.
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Posted in October 28th, 2009
By admin
There are a lot of good things in the world and only a few great. In our Rwandan Coffee project, we meet a lot of friends and are faced with many opportunities. It’s cool that so many people want to drink coffee… and do good.
I’m finding, though, that some of these good opportunities presented by good people can keep my tribe and me from the great opportunities. Amy, who is working with us for a few months, calls this sideways energy. The good opportunities are good, but they move our energy sideways, they divert us from making a great impact.
Neglecting the good opportunities and focusing on the great ones is hard for me because I’m a creative visionary and to be honest, I also want it all. I want us to be involved in education and microfinance and coffee bikes and peace baskets and and and and and.
But focusing too much on the “ands” keeps me (and us) from the great work of inviting people in America to Drink Coffee. Do good. It keeps us from going deep in our work with one little village in one little country: Rwanda. As we learn to focus our energy forward instead of sideways, we make greater impact with you–the coffee drinker–and with our friends Pastor Idelphones, Clementine, Jean, Claudette, and 200 other coffee farmers in Rwanda. It’s a pretty simple concept, but I think God calls us to make a difference through the simple things, to engage redemption every day.
Drink Coffee. Do Good.
Jonathan
Posted in October 26th, 2009
By admin
After Tammy, the Coffee Ambassador at St. Mark’s Church in Burlington, North Carolina, came to volunteer at Catalyst Conference ‘09, We asked her a few questions about being a coffee ambassador, drinking Rwandan coffee, the part of our story she connects with most, and her advice for other people trying to do good through coffee.
LOTH: How long has St. Mark’s been drinking our coffee?
TAMMY: I believe we have been drinking LOTH coffee since early 2008.
LOTH: What prompted the switch from supermarket coffee to freshly roasted
Rwandan beans? What kinds of things about LOTH were you attracted to when you first made the switch?
TAMMY: One of our pastors, Eric Allred, was motivated by what he heard at Catalyst
2007 about Land of a Thousand Hills and their desire to bring healing and reconciliation to Rwanda through coffee. He was over the hospitality portion of our church ministry at that time and knew it would be a great way to bring a missional purpose into something we were already doing—drinking lots of coffee!
LOTH: When did you assume the role of Coffee Ambassador and what ignited that desire in you?
TAMMY: After Eric received the Ministry Kit last year, I began the process of ordering for our church’s Resource Center. As I became more involved and learned more about the ministry, I fell in love not only with the coffee, but with all of the beautiful stories. It has been wonderful to be a part of something so much bigger than me.
LOTH: Does your church sell coffee, in addition to brewing it? What does that “selling process” look like? What steps do you take to prepare and sell your inventory?
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TAMMY: We not only serve our coffee to members and guest for hospitality, but we also make it available for purchase in our Resource Center. Along with the coffee, we also sell “Drink Coffee Do Good” merchandise. We have shelves and a display dedicated to Land of a Thousand Hills and I try to keep an inventory on hand. I am continually ordering coffee to restock after weekend services.
LOTH: How has our coffee created community and challenged people in your congregation to engage redemption?
TAMMY: Wow, our church is so giving and mission minded–our folks have loved being engaged in something they can incorporate into their everyday life that has purpose and meaning.
LOTH: What is the single most attractive thing about our coffee or story?
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TAMMY: The single most attractive thing to me is the reflection of God’s power through a cup of coffee. When I reflect over my cup of coffee in the morning,
I trace back how God has moved through so many people’s lives to make that cup happen. It reflects His power to heal, His power to love, His power to unite, His power to equip, His power to forgive…
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LOTH: Have you been to Africa?
TAMMY: No I have not, but I really would like to go to Rwanda if God will open the doors.
LOTH: What inspires you to be so involved when you haven’t been there?
TAMMY: I truly believe as I grow closer to Christ, He reveals more and more His heart of compassion and love for others, especially those who are poor in spirit. How can I not be moved by the stories of heartbreak and struggle if I am not desiring to be more like my Savior?
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TAMMY: Helping people to realize that there are responsible alternatives to what they are currently drinking and why that is so important. Land of a Thousand Hills has really helped open my eyes to my need to be more informed, not just with coffee, but with many different social justice issues. With knowledge comes responsibility.
LOTH: What’s your best piece of advice to ambassadors or churches with a new coffee ministry?
TAMMY: Learn the stories and equip your volunteers with the purpose behind the coffee…the coffee will sell itself. If folks see that you are passionate about the coffee, it will become contagious.
