A West Yorkshire based coffee roaster are continuing their overseas community investment programme by providing funding for a children’s centre in Ethiopia.
Dark Woods Coffee have agreed to provide essential funding for the Ardent Children Centre for the next three years in an effort to support the communities where their coffee beans are sourced from.
Award-winning Dark Woods, which operates as a values-led business and is a certified B Corp (Benefit Corporation) are committed to using a proportion of its turnover to support community initiatives, both locally and within the coffee-growing communities with whom it works.
Dark Wood Director Ian Agnew said: “At its heart, coffee is more than just a drink; it’s part of our social fabric and that’s why we invite friends to “meet for coffee”; why coffee shops are such vital community hubs and why people get a warm glow when they smell coffee brewing.
“We understand the impact that coffee has within the communities both here with those who consume it and within the communities who grow it too.
“Our latest partnership is with our long-standing Ethiopian partner. Based in the birth-place of coffee, Highland Ethiopian coffee is renowned as being amongst the finest in the world, and we source our beans directly from Ashenafi Argaw and his company Ardent Coffee who are based out of Addis Ababa and provide a shipment to our Marsden roastery each spring.
“The beans sourced from this region are used within our range, including our Common Grounds Barrel Age coffee which won the award for Best Beverage category at the Deliciouslyorkshire Taste Awards in November 2021.
Ashenafi is known for his experience and skill in sourcing, selecting and processing specialty coffees within the different coffee growing regions of Ethiopia and also for his socially-responsible approach and support for the communities where Ardent works.
Ian continues: “Ashenafi and his team see first-hand the challenges faced by rural coffee-growing communities, and particularly the high number of orphans and are committed to making a difference. Ardent Children Centre in Bensa, south of Addis Ababa was set up as a registered charity to help and the Centre is now home to thirty two children from the age of two up to teenagers.”
The support provided by Dark Woods will pay the full living and care costs for at least twenty of the children living at the Bensa Centre and will help to ensure that they continue to remain in a safe and loving environment as well as receiving a full education.
Since the business was founded in 2011, they have also continued to support a number of other overseas community projects including support for village infrastructure projects in Peru and community farmer-radio broadcasting in Panama as well as annual funding for the World Coffee Research, a global scientific research charity seeking to identify and cultivate coffee plant varietals which will be more resistant to the increased risk of disease and pests brought on by climate change.
Closer to home, Dark Woods continues to support a number of local initiatives too, providing support to Holme Valley Mountain Rescue, the Welcome Centre Food Bank and other charities throughout West Yorkshire.
For more information about Dark Woods Coffee and to buy their award-winning range online visit www.darkwoodscoffee.co.uk