How We Give Back

In the U.S.

Through May 2020, sales of Quarantine Coffee (our project with Chicago Cubs player Ian Happ) have provided:

  • 2,413 meals, through the Greater Chicago Food Depository, to those most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic
  • $804 worth of food and educational resources, through Save the Children, to children in rural communities who have been most affected by the pandemic.

Through the sale of coffee, Connect Roasters empowers communities in countries that grow coffee. We do this through a giveback model: $1 for each pound of coffee we roast supports health care and education programs run by Connect's partner organizations.

Here is the work that your purchase of coffee has helped fund to date:

In Guatemala, we support Mision El Faro, an organization that runs 20+ community development and ministry programs in the far eastern part of the country. Here’s how lives have been impacted in El Faro’s communities, thanks to funding from Connect:

  • Children in El Faro’s tutoring program now have access to five iPads, which are used to help students who need the most help in math and Spanish literacy.
  • Melvin and Gerson, boys who have special needs, received new equipment — a walker for one and wheelchair upgrades for the other — which will allow their families to help their sons with their physical therapy.
  • Twenty women received health exams that they had never had before, and in two cases, illnesses were detected and surgeries have been scheduled to correct the problem.
  • Regina, 7, suffers from a chronic pituitary gland issue, is now receiving quarterly treatments to hopefully reduce her symptoms and regulate her pituitary gland.

In Nicaragua, we support a mobile library visits under-resourced schools to improve students' literacy, math and science skills. This year, Connect's funding sent Planting Hope's most trained tutor to five different schools over four months, reaching 240 kids in all.


In Ethiopia, we're helping school kids in the community of Aleta Wondo eat a healthy lunch. We partner with Common River, an NGO that runs at lunch program at a primary school it built.

One of the issues Common River faces is poor school attendance, which causes poor academic performance. Hungry kids are more likely to miss school, but the good news is that Common River is already feeding 1 in 5 students at its school. Our goal is to help them make it 5 in 5. To date, Connect has funded 83 lunches.