One of the most memorable aspects about our trip, thus far, has been partnering and volunteering with local nonprofits. In doing so, we build relationships, learn more about the culture, and contribute to innovative solutions towards social and environmental justice.

We have a vision of spreading awareness about our favorite nonprofits and connecting people who care about contributing to a given issue. In that spirit, we have lined up some partnerships where we get to “giveaway” a fun token that symbolizes their work while promoting their work. The only catch is that we don’t know the best way to do this (yet)!

The first nonprofit that we are highlighting is De La Gente (DLG) in Guatemala. DLG provides microfinancing loans, volunteer support, and a distribution channel for direct trade coffee, where the middlemen are eliminated to provide more money directly to the farmer. DLG is beloved by the Guatemalan coffee farmers and together they have formed a robust co-op community while encouraging specialty coffee.

Because we volunteered with DLG for a week (see our Reflections on Guatemala post), we experienced firsthand how difficult (yet rewarding) coffee farming can be! We connected with farmers and families who take pride in their coffee and do everything they can, whether by hand, or without pesticide, to provide quality coffee to the world and earn access to opportunity for their children.

Direct trade coffee is a newer term. This chart helps clarify the distinction between fair trade and direct trade. @dlgcoffee is another great resource to learn more--and they ship coffee to the US! #coffeefarming

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DLG provides great coffee bags and even subscriptions that will be delivered to your door and we plan to subscribe when we get back. For now, we are giving away a “back-to-school bundle” of a 12oz bag of coffee and a Klean Kanteen coffee tumbler!

All you have to do to have a chance to win, is enter a photo of you and a mug by September 12th at this link! The kids decided the terms and they thought it would be fun to see all of you! We will start a voting process to determine the winner! It is really easy to do so please consider taking 5 mins to enter….and if you are using social media, be sure to tag @DLGcoffee and @franklin_street_globetrotters!

Finally, if you don’t win, or contests aren’t your thing, you can still order and donate directly from the DLG website.

Please spread this post and encourage any coffee-lover to enter!

· Enter a photo in the contest: https://1.shortstack.com/CK6Rbm

· Buy coffee or donate to De La Gente: http://www.dlgcoffee.org/

Tasting sweet coffee cherry from the plant. They are the shell and juice and spit out the raw coffee bean. It has a ton of caffeine which was good for Kenza's energy and put Kaysee over the top! 😂 #coffeefarming #directtrade #coffee #globalclassroom

27 Likes, 1 Comments - Franklin Street Globetrotters (@franklin_street_globetrotters) on Instagram: "Tasting sweet coffee cherry from the plant. They are the shell and juice and spit out the raw..."

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As Z explains, this H1 coffee plant is the first EVER planted in Antigua. Only three farms in Guatemala will plant this experimental variety designed, to be resilient to disease. If it survives it will become the new specialized coffee plant for all of Guatemala. It is expected to rate 87 points (highest rating is 89/100)...we will know in 3-4 years! We will work here again tomorrow. 250/1000 coffee plants on this plot of land will be H1 variety. /// #travelwithkids #globalclassroom #coffeefarming #exploreguatemala #volcanagua @ivhq @dlgcoffee @maximoabroad

A post shared by Franklin Street Globetrotters (@franklin_street_globetrotters) on Aug 1, 2018 at 2:20pm PDT