Street Roots • Nov. 24-Dec. 1, 2017
O p in io n
Page
There’s a new coffee in town - Street Roast
treet Roots has an exciting announcement to
make.
part of the project, but ultimately became the
driver the entire production.
Marigold Coffee has their own story. A mission-
A new coffee is coming to Portland.
driven small business owned by Joey and Cassy
We are proud to announce that in December,
Gleason, two sisters who have a vision to create
Marigold Coffee is launching a Street Roast.
spaces for where coffee and people come together.
Proceeds from the sale of each bag will support
“We immediately saw the benefits this project
the Street Roots vendor
could bring,” said Cassy. “We saw how Street
program and the newspaper
Roast could provide a regular revenue stream for a
DIRECTOR'S
itself.
wonderful, well-respected organization in Street
DESK
Street Roast will be
Roots. Getting to know Israel and the folks at
available in New Seasons
Street Roots, we also recognized this opportunity
By Israel Bayer
Markets throughout
as a way to contribute to something much bigger.”
Portland and at the
“This project, however, offers a small, but an
Marigold Coffee location at
important opening for ordinary Portlanders to help
2815 Southeast Holgate
address the struggle of homelessness by
Boulevard.
humanizing the people experiencing it,” said
We couldn’t be more excited at Street Roots.
Cassy. “Coffee has always been a connector. It
The story of Street Roast is a story of how the
bridges the hemisphere between producers in the
private sector and the nonprofit sector can come
tropics and consumers in the north. It serves as a
together to support social change in our
bridge between people sharing a moment together
community.
enjoying a warm cup. Coffee, like any produced
Feeling devastated after last year’s election,
good, creates a mysterious web of interconnecting
Seth Walker with Curate.org, along with Jeremy
economies of trade and pleasure and
Ehn and Brenden Schild with Ideaville, wanted to
interdependence, perhaps more than any other
give back to the community. It wasn’t the first
commodity when you take into consideration the
time they did a project like this.
growers, the pickers, the
Seth Walker has
importers, the shippers,
been working with
the roasters, the grocers,
speakers with
the cafe owners, the
TEDxPortland for
baristas and finally the
years, including
people - all of us! - who
myself.
finally enjoy this
Jeremy and Brenden
marvelous drink.”
had already helped
Yes!
dream up Happy Cup
In th e en d , w e
Coffee, a coffee
collectively approached
company created to
New Seasons about the
support and employ
project. They were
adults with disabilities.
ecstatic about the idea of
Both Ideaville and
having Street Roast on
Curate.org have a
their shelves.
specific mission to
If there’s one thing we
help deliver creative
all learned, it’s that given
solutions for brand
the chance, local
marketing and
businesses and
supporting greater
nonprofits have the
good in the
opportunity to create an
community. This
environment where we are all working toward the
summer, they approached Street Roots about
common good of our community.
creating a product to support the organization.
When Street Roast hits the shelves in
For months, four graphic design interns from
December, it will be an example of how we can all
Oregon State University supported by Ideaville
be working together to create social change, one
helped hatch the idea of Street Roast.
cup of coffee at a time. It will be a whole new
The company ended up donating about $50,000
stimulus package.
in creative services to the project.
“Portland is a big-hearted city,” said Cassy. “Yet
The team was eventually introduced to Marigold
the problem of homelessness and the housing
Coffee by their colleagues at Good Coffee, a
crisis can seem too big and too complicated to
neighborhood coffee shop who’d heard about the
solve. There is no magic bullet to fix a problem.
emerging social venture from Business For A
We see pain and despair on the streets, but too
often ordinary Portland residents tune out and
Better Portland.
stop seeing the person caught in a bad situation as
Business For A Better Portland is a new
membership organization of Portland’s business
a human being with a unique story full of hope and
community working to support a range of housing
fear, needs and gifts same as their own. We
couldn’t be happier to be a part of helping Street
and homeless policies, among other things. It’s
Roots.”
also their goal to connect local businesses with
Thank you to everyone who made this happen,
nonprofits to do mission-driven work and have a
and to all of our amazing supporters. We’re looking
more progressive business voice in the
forward to sharing a cup with all of you!
community.
Marigold Coffee was not only thrilled to be a
S
Israel Bayer is the
executive director o f
Street Roots. You can
reach h im a t
israel@streetroots. org
or follow h im on
Twitter @israelbayer.
Executive Director Israel Bayer
israel@streetroots.org
Executive Editor loanne Zuhl
Vendor Program Director Cole Merkel
cole@streetroots.org
Senior S taff Reporter Emily Green
Operations Director Sarah B e e c ro ft
Program Assistant Caelin Miltko, Jesuit
Volunteer
Vendor Assistant Scott Jackson, Alex
Gillow-Wiles
Development Assistant Rosemary Wilson
Editorial Producer Monica Kwasnik
Reporters Sarah Hansell, Leonora Ko, Emilly
Prado, Jared Paben, Amanda Waldroupe,
Stephen Quirke, Helen Hill
Photographers Diego Diaz, Arkady Brown
Canvasser Desmond Hardison
Board of Directors
Chairman Brad Taylor
Vice-Chairman Rachel Langford
Treasurer Heather Stadick
Secretary Dan Jones
Directors Michael Anderson, Sandra Hahn,
John Brown, Nels Johnson and Alison Hallett
Volunteers
Jan Bayer, John Barker, Stacey Heath, Anjali Rathore,
Zoe Klingmann, Dan Jones, Dennis Hogan, Monica
McKune, Susan Wolfe, Lucas Hawthorne, Thomas
Buell Jr., Jason Cohen, Doug Spangle, Susannah
Kamala, Jon Raymond, Diana Richardson, Paul and
Madeline Gefroh, Mary Anne Joyce, Del Shawn
Davidson, Gillian Floren, Mark OIDani, Bianca Butler,
Alex Cherin, Jenny Farres, Evan Firsick, Camber
Hansen-Karr, Miranda Woods, Henry Brannan,
Megan Smith, Luke Scheuermann, Helen Hill, Lily
Krai, Mary Emerson, Brooke Anderson, Kathleen
McFall, Robb Hengerer, Bronwyn Miles, Maile Yeats-
Rowe, Erin Parsons, Bridget Brown and Megan
Pickerel-Winer. If you're interested in volunteering
with Street Roots, please submit a volunteer
application at streetroots.org/volunteer. Or you can
call for more information at 503-228-5657.