You can still Donate! See Below

Higher Grounds Trading Co. co-sponsored with the Great Lakes Bioneers a screening of the recently released, and internationally acclaimed, documentary Black Gold (www.blackgoldmovie.com) in Traverse City, Michigan on Tuesday December 4th. The event was screened for 180 people who were also asked to donate funds for a much-needed educational fund for the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (OCFCU) in Ethiopia, which will be delivered directly in early January.

The Ethiopian Fair Trade export cooperative takes the lead role in Black Gold, as the documentary tells the story of how coffee is the 2nd most valuable trading commodity in the world after oil, and yet coffee farmers across the globe continue to be paid prices so low that many have been forced to abandon their coffee fields. Nowhere is this paradox more evident than in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee. Tadesse Meskela, the central character in the film is one man on a mission to save his 74,000 struggling coffee farmers from bankruptcy.The fundraiser raised over $5000 dollars and continues through December.

Donations may be made at Unity Fair Trade Marketplace in Traverse City, or your tax-deductible gift in support made out to Neahtawanta Center, can be sent to:

Ethiopian School Fundraiser
c/o Neahtawanta Center
1308 Neahtawanta Road
Traverse City, MI 49686

The film will be donated to the Traverse City Area District Library this January.