Drink to Fair Trade Month This October

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- October is Fair Trade Month. Compass Group is celebrating by offering a wide range of Fair Trade coffee options including, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Peet's Coffee & Tea,  Seattle's Best,  Starbucks, along with Pura Vida its strategic community coffee partner, at their accounts across the country.

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A Fair Trade Certified label ensures consumers that a fair price was paid for the coffee, fair wages were paid to the workers, and that it was produced in a sustainable manner.

Additional monies are invested in the coffee-farming communities for much needed community development projects through a strategic partnership of Compass Group with Pura Vida that goes beyond supply and demand. For every pound of Pura Vida coffee purchased, Compass Group donates $0.25 to the Create Good Foundation (formerly Pura Vida Partners) to help support the coffee growing communities in Latin America, and around the world.

In 2009, those efforts came to fruition as Pura Vida successfully launched a number of projects in Mexico. Focusing on the six communities that make up the coffee co-op known as the Comunidades de Santa Maria Yucuhiti in Oaxaca, Pura Vida, with Compass' financial help, has been able to fund small business development projects, land renovation, and health initiatives that create strong and self-reliant communities.

To date, Compass Group has raised over $92,247.89 for the Create Good Foundation which oversees the programming and initiatives.

*Greenhouses: Compass Group funded the building and support of two greenhouses in Guadalupe Miramar and Buenavista, two of the co-op communities. This project allows the community to grow food for their families and to sell the additional produce to supplement their coffee income. These communities are receiving training on how to manage and maintain a successful greenhouse.

*Land Renovation/Training: With seminars on topics such as cultivating, roasting, cupping, storing, Pura Vida is helping the community develop additional skills required in the processing of coffee, besides simply growing and harvesting it. The training helps in particular the women who had limited work opportunities, now enabling them to earn an income for their families. In addition, a large mesh greenhouse was constructed and is filled with coffee seedlings. These seedlings are being used to renovate and rejuvenate the coffee land of all six communities. This is a crucial step in maintaining yield year after year.

This year, health services for the community were funded and offered, in collaboration with the Circle of Women, a local women advocacy group in Oaxaca.

Sam Snyder of Pura Vida Create Good explains, "We have made great strides in our mission to help coffee farmers. Our work in Oaxaca is holistic community development with the specific goal of creating healthy and independent communities. With Compass' support, we have been able to help these communities in real and lasting ways much faster than we would have been able to otherwise."

To support additional programs, Pura Vida will donate 15% of individual online sales to fund additional projects in Oaxaca through their web site (http://puravidacoffee.e-beans.net/coffees/?afc=GR0008H1W).

Marc Zammit, Vice President of Corporate Sustainability Initiatives and Culinary, Compass Group USA adds, "This is an initiative that has an important on-the-ground level impact for improving the day to day quality of life of the people in these coffee-growing communities."

About Pura Vida Create Good

Based in Seattle, WA, Pura Vida Create Good (http://www.puravidacreategood.com) is a leader in cause based business. As an early leader in Fair Trade, organic coffee, Pura Vida set a new standard for how business is done. Pura Vida sells the highest quality coffee and other products and uses the proceeds to fund water and economic infrastructure projects in coffee growing regions around the world. In 2009, over $290,000 was deployed to projects in coffee growing regions.  http://www.facebook.com/puravidacreategood

About Compass Group USA

Based in Charlotte NC, Compass Group USA (http://www.cgnad.com) is the leading foodservice and support services company with $9.2 billion in revenues in 2009. Compass Group is proud to lead the foodservice industry with groundbreaking policies that champion local farmers and fair trade; reduce the use of antibiotics in chicken, turkey and pork; commit to healthier oceans by purchasing sustainable seafood; focus on social justice; support sustainable agriculture and healthy rural economies; and promote farm animal welfare through 100 percent use of cage free shell eggs. http://www.facebook.com/compassgroupusa

SOURCE Compass Group USA