Café Campesino partners with Georgia Conservancy to raise awareness, promote engagement

Published 10:17 am Wednesday, February 20, 2019

By Carey Wooten

AMERICUS — Brian Foster, communications director, and Carden Barkley, membership coordinator for the Georgia Conservancy, visited Americus Saturday, to not only enroll members in the organization, but to share their mission of protecting and conserving Georgia’s natural resources and to share opportunities for engagement in that mission.
The 50-year-old overseer of Georgia’s natural resources partnered several years ago with Americus’ own Café Campesino. Both organizations promote sustainable growth that protects natural resources, here and abroad. “Our values align,” Nema Etheridge said, before leading a tour of some 15 people through the Café Campesino roastery. Both organizations, she explained, promote preservation of habitat, biodiversity, healthy soil, along with community engagement, which “creates passion and investment.” Plenty of passionate coffee drinkers support Café Campesino locally, and others, aware of their presence and purpose on the global stage, support their efforts by supporting the fair trade practices they embrace, and by supporting their partners, such as the Georgia Conservancy.
One of the Conservancy’s most popular methods of spreading the word — and the love — of Georgia’s resources are their Stewardship Trips, including paddling and camping excursions down the Flint, Chattahoochee, Ocmulgee, Altamaha, and smaller Georgia rivers, and hikes in the mountains and on the coastline in hopes of creating a connection between Georgia’s beautiful natural spaces and the people who are needed to protect them. Café Campesino, along with other businesses, help support these trips, with in-kind donations of their coffee and other supplies, and by promoting these trips. Two of the Conservancy’s most ardent supporters are local outdoor enthusiasts Norman Race from Americus and John Williams of Plains. They are both regulars on river trips, and staunch supporters of GC’s efforts to protect lands, waterways, and wildlife. More information about the Georgia Conservancy can be found at www.georgiaconservancy.org.