We know many of you enjoy a good cup of coffee. And we know this because, by my quick estimate, we’re serving over twenty thousand cups of coffee annually in our Atrium Café.
So that got some of us thinking. What if each cup of coffee could make someone else’s life a bit better? What if it could help Rolling Hills further the work of our mission both locally and globally? What if it could help us become better stewards of the earth’s resources that God has so richly provided and entrusted to our care? What if…
Well, we think we’ve come up with a great way to answer these what-ifs. At the core, it’s based on relationships—a new relationship with a local coffee importer/roaster that has built their business by working in direct relationship with local growers around the world, employing sustainable and organic practices and operations while providing one of the best cups of coffee in the Portland area. The company is Portland Roasting Company, recently recognized as 2012 Macro Roaster of the Year by the coffee industry trade magazine, Roast.
I don’t have the space to describe all the ways Portland Roasting Company has built such a tremendous relationship-based business model, but you can learn more by visiting portlandroasting.com. The key point is that we share a common value of using relationships to free people from extreme poverty throughout the world.
But, it gets better…because, as important as it is to free people from physical poverty, it’s even more important to lift them from spiritual poverty through a relationship with Jesus Christ. And, here, our partnership with Portland Roasting Company is key. They will provide us with whole bean coffee at a price close to their cost so that we can sell it to you at a discount and still generate funds that we can direct toward our community and global outreach efforts. Now that’s a rich cup of coffee!
If you already buy whole bean coffee, you will now be able to purchase the highest quality organic coffee, conveniently at church each week, knowing that nearly half the price you pay is going to sustain our outreach efforts. These funds can help us directly support our partners in Nicaragua and Serbia. They can provide scholarships to help more of our youth and adults participate in short-term missional experiences. They can enable us to provide services to the poor and homeless that we’re serving in our new Community Life Center. The list goes on and on.
To accomplish all this in May, we’re making some changes to our Atrium Cafe. We will switch out some equipment, add more counter space and another cash register, and speed up our credit/debit card authorization processing. We will also move some of the tables to the area in front of the Atrium fountain to make room for the increased traffic.
And, yes, we will also change prices on our menu items. Not because the new coffee is more expensive, but to help cover the costs of our expanded services. But, we’ll still have the best prices for the best coffee drinks in town, served by our own wonderful Rolling Hill’s members.
Will you join me and my family as we switch all of our whole bean coffee purchases to RHCC’s Atrium Cafe? It’s a small change that will yield rich rewards.
- John Geffel, Business Manager
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