Singing Rooster Haitian Coffee: Helping Haiti One Cup at a Time

Sept. 7, 2010 - PRLog -- On January 12, 2010 a magnitude 7.0 earthquakes decimated portions of Haiti. With an already fragile infrastructure, the quake lay ruin to a country all too familiar with poverty.  In the few subsequent months, Haiti has witnessed a deluge of philanthropic efforts to aid an already struggling nation.

Once the world’s spotlight turns off, Haiti will continue to struggle with day-to-day living and requires long-term solutions. “Haiti received much needed attention after the earthquake and thousands are still there. Sooner or later, most will go home or travel to the next disaster,” said Molly Nicaise, co-founder of Singing Rooster. Singing Rooster, a newly launched nonprofit organization, believes coffee is part of a longer-term solution for Haiti’s dignity and self-sustainability.  

When someone’s leg is crushed or hordes of children and families are starving, the help needs to be immediate.  Once emergencies have been handled, longer-term help is more complicated.  It’s evident from the past that giving people food, clothing and shelter isn't the answer. Instead, Singing Rooster operates on the belief that self-respect, dignity and genuine change comes from autonomy, not handouts.

According to Nicaise, Haiti already has a fledgling coffee infrastructure not requiring years of development, “Our goal as an organization is to create new markets for Haitian coffee as well as provide grants that support and encourage autonomy in coffee farming communities.  Our grants focus on developing sound coffee farming practices as well as sustainable food programs.”

Singing Rooster works in cooperation with several coffee communities to sell and distribute Haitian Coffee throughout North America, directing all of the proceeds back to Haiti.   The Rooster began only in August of 2009 and has sold nearly 10,000 pounds of Haitian coffee by January.  Molly and her co-founder husband, Christophe, traveled to Haiti for additional coffee beans in late December, returning days prior to the quake.

After the earthquake Singing Rooster’s plans changed from one of marketing and distributing coffee to an emergency relief operation.  They asked their coffee communities about immediate needs and learned they wanted garden supplies.  Their coffee farmers knew that hundreds would be leaving Port au Prince for rural hometowns and gardens would help feed the influx of new people.

Now that things are not necessarily in disaster mode, Nicaise is returning to the goal of her nonprofit:  to make consumers aware of Haitian coffee by creating new markets for Haitian coffee consumption and by bettering Haitian coffee farming communities.

You can support Singing Rooster’s efforts by buying coffee directly from their website:  www.Singingrooter.org and by spreading the word about their efforts.  If you’re a nonprofit or know one, tell them about Singing Rooster’s coffee fund raising program where the Rooster helps other nonprofits raise money for their own work in Haiti.

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www.SingingRooster.org supports Haiti by selling Haitian Mountain Blue Coffee; 100% of Singing Rooster's proceeds go BACK to Haiti to build economic infrastructures based, in part, on coffee.