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Local charity uses coffee to spread joy to those who need it most

The coffee is bought from struggling Ethiopian farmers, and the profits go back to help their communities.

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Coffee is a lot more than a morning routine for the leaders at a Crisis Aid, a local charity that helps millions of lives across the world.

They are using java to change the lives of Ethiopian families one sip at a time.

For nearly 20 years, Crisis Aid has been providing families in East Africa with the basics.

“We are just keeping them alive,” said Pat Bradley, Crisis Aid CEO.

“How do we bring about a change for a community that lives in abject poverty?”

His permanent answer, Oh! Coffee. It’s a high-grade Ethiopian coffee.

“It’s not Folgers,” he said.

The charity buys the coffee from Ethiopian farmers, who live in rural underserved communities. They sell the coffee in the U.S.

Most of the profits then head back overseas to help those same struggling communities where the coffee beans were planted. The rest of the profits help struggling families right here in St. Louis.

“These are people who literally have no hope,” Bradley said.

You need coffee, struggling families need jobs.

Part of the vision of Oh! Coffee is to be a self-sustaining source of income for charitable projects and to create jobs in the impacted areas to employ people who don't have jobs.

Bradley said one of the benefits of Oh! coffee, they know where every penny is going.

“These are our projects, so we know everything that goes into them,” he said.

Right now they are just selling Oh! Online with the hopes to grow the business in the future.

Here's a link to purchase a bag of Oh!

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