2/17/2014
Las Vegas, NV – Sustainable specialty coffee roasting company, Café do Paraíso, chooses local education non-profit as long-term recipient of proceeds to benefit school gardens.
Café do Paraíso, a fresh new specialty coffee roaster in Las Vegas, started by Owen Carver is determined to make
a waves in town and not just by selling amazing hand roasted coffee, but by making a bold commitment to local education. They’ve made it part of their mission statement to donate $1 to education non-profits for every pound of coffee they sell, with half the proceeds going to the state where the coffee is purchased and the other to Brazil, where the unroasted beans come from. So it’s with great excitement that they’re now announcing their selection of Green Our Planet as their recipient of these proceeds in Nevada.
“Our goal wasn’t to just make money selling high quality coffee, but to have a bigger mission dedicated to making our world a better place,” says Owen. “And I believe the best way to make the biggest impact on any community is to improve education. After doing research I then realized what a broad and positive affect school gardens have on classrooms here, and Green Our Planet leverages online fundraising to make this much easier to do in Vegas!”
Green Our Planet is a non-profit organization founded by documentary filmmakers and conservationists Kim MacQuarrie and Ciara Byrne in March 2013. It is a crowd funding website (www.greenourplanet.org) that raises money for green projects locally, nationally, and worldwide. In Las Vegas, Green Our Planet uses its crowdfunding platform to make their Outdoor Garden Classroom Program possible, a program that raises money for and installs vegetable teaching gardens in K-12 schools across the Clark County School District. Since March of 2013, Green Our Planet has funded and helped install 20 gardens at schools around the Las Vegas valley. They are currently in the process of installing, with their partner Garden Farms, 20-30 more gardens. The Outdoor Garden Classrooms provide students with hands-on learning opportunities in a variety of subjects, including math, science, nutrition, and conservation. In many studies across the United States teaching in school gardens has been proven to increase test scores and help students understand where their food comes from as well as lead to an increase in the consumption of vegetables by students and an increase in awareness about environmental issues.
“In November one of our schools, John S Park Elementary, had the first farmer’s market in an elementary school in Clark County,” said Ciara Byrne, co-founder of Green Our Planet. “The amazing thing is that 8 and 9-year-old students grew the vegetables and then ran the farmer’s market themselves. Gardens are a great way to learn about conservation and how to live a healthy lifestyle,” she says. “And it’s even better if you learn about it early on in school.”
Since March 2013, Green Our Planet has raised $145,0000, including raising money for a homeless shelter in Carson City so that it could go solar. The money donated by Café do Paraíso will go directly towards funding Outdoor Garden Classrooms in Las Vegas schools.
Café do Paraíso is currently looking for non-profits that assist in educational programs in other U.S. states as well. For more information or to suggest a non-profit please visit https://cafedoparaiso.com/submit-a-non-profitcharity/. Coffee may be purchased online at https://cafedoparaiso.com.
