CANTON, Mass. (October 13, 2005) - For the third consecutive year, Dunkin' Donuts, America's number one retailer of coffee-by-the-cup, will provide a $75,000 cash donation to Coffee Kids, an international, non-profit organization established to improve the quality of life for children and families who live in coffee-producing regions in Central and South America. This donation for FY2006, is part of the Dunkin' Donuts' ongoing commitment to helping Coffee Kids in their mission to create education, healthcare, training, and microenterprise programs for coffee farmers and their families and increase awareness about the quality of life issues these families are facing.
Coffee Kids will designate $41,000 of the Dunkin' Donuts donation to fully fund Economic Empowerment and Community Health Education, a community-based healthcare project in San Pedro la Laguna, Guatemala. More than 250 indigenous women and their families are benefiting from this community healthcare project, which educates and trains indigenous people to identify and treat common illnesses such as colds and flu, practice pre- and post-natal care, and prevent routine ailments. In the next year, the program will expand to more coffee-growing communities including Paraxaj, where women will attend training sessions to learn about traditional medicine for themselves. The program will also provide pre- and post-natal care trainings in six communities around Lake Atitilan.
"Coffee Kids marks its success by how much we can support and foster stable, long-term, local programs that will serve coffee-growing communities for years to come," said Bill Fishbein, founder of Coffee Kids. "With the ongoing support we receive from Dunkin' Donuts, we are able to deliver on our overall mission and meet our long term goal- helping families in these regions take control of their own lives and help to provide community development in as many coffee-growing communities as possible."
"Dunkin' Donuts has and continues to be a supporter of health and social programs that benefit the people of coffee-producing regions," said John Gilbert, vice president of marketing, Dunkin' Donuts. "In Guatemala, where there is only one doctor for every 85,000 people, our donation to Coffee Kids will help make a successful healthcare project a reality."
The remaining funds of Dunkin' Donuts' contribution will be evenly distributed to education and literacy programs, economic empowerment training and community programs in different regions in Central America, including Nicaragua and Costa Rica. These programs all help to improve the quality of life for coffee farmers and their families and build more sustainable communities.
Last year's donation from Dunkin' Donuts was used to build an Education and Training Center in Vera Cruz, Mexico and was recently inaugurated in August. The center will allow participants in the project to attend classes, learn about alternative incomes, healthcare, organizational development, loan management, bank management and other issues related to diversification. The center will also serve Coffee Kids' partners and participants in Oaxaca, Mexico as well as new and emerging partnerships in Chiapas and Coffee Kids partners and project participants in Guatemala, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. The remaining funds of Dunkin' Donuts' donation for 2005 were divided according to need in various regions in Guatemala, Vera Cruz in Mexico, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.
About Dunkin' Donuts
Founded in 1950, today Dunkin' Donuts is the number one retailer of coffee-by-the-cup in America, selling 2.7 million cups a day, nearly one billion cups a year. Dunkin' Donuts is also the largest coffee and baked goods chain in the world and sells more donuts, coffee, and bagels than any other quick service restaurant in America. Dunkin' Donuts has more than 6,100 shops in 30 countries worldwide. Based in Canton, Massachusetts, Dunkin' Donuts is a subsidiary of Dunkin' Brands, Inc. For more information, visit www.DunkinDonuts.com.
About Coffee Kids
Coffee Kids is an international nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that has helped thousands of children, women, and men in coffee-producing regions in South and Central America to improve the quality of their lives and build more sustainable communities. For more information on Coffee Kids and how to make a donation, please visit www.coffeekids.org/donate/.