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Monday, October 18, 2010

Aspire CoffeeWorks - Employing Those With Disabilities

A few weeks ago I found out about the non-profit organization Aspire in Illinois.

From their website, "Aspire serves people with disabilities across their lifetimes. We offer a comprehensive array of support for individuals with developmental disabilities. Our name – Aspire – best sums up our approach. We help our participants and their families to aspire to a world of possibilities.
We assist more than 1,000 children and adults each year with services focused on achieving potential and independence. We help infants and toddlers begin life with as many abilities as possible, encourage adults with developmental disabilities to participate as fully as possible in community life, and provide disabled seniors with critical supports that keep them as "connected" as possible."
Last year Aspire launched a new venture - Aspire CoffeeWorks; which offers craft-roasted coffees while opening new horizons for people with disabilities. They are a partnership between Metropolis Coffee Company, one of the nation's top artisan coffee roasters, and Aspire, a non-profit leader helping children and adults with disabilities.
Aspire CoffeeWorks' staff work right alongside Metropolis Coffee's team to grind, package, and ship your order. They believe people with developmental disabilities can contribute in untold ways to a company's well-being and bottom line and hope their model partnership with Metropolis Coffee will inspire employers nationwide. (I hope so too!)
Aspire CoffeeWorks is now being sold in select Whole Foods stores, and you can purchase it online as well (it's roasted to order and packaged and shipped directly to your home.) 100% of proceeds help fund Aspire's programs for children and adults with disabilities.

I just love hearing about companies who are enabling those with disabilities to be as independent as they can be and welcoming them in the workforce as well!


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2 comments:

To Love Endlessly said...

gonna steal this post and order some coffee too. :-)

Anonymous said...

We love what Aspire is doing! In fact that's where we got our inspiration to start a coffee roasting business in the Baltimore, MD area. We have a daughter who is 36 years old who has Down Syndrome. Erin is our first employee. Since we started we've had to hire more, too, because of demand.
Jim Kales is a visionary and I've thanked him many times for his foresight!
You can check us out at www.furnacehillscoffee.com. Every pound of most our blends we sell a dollar goes to work in an orphanage for developmentally disabled boys in Ukraine. One of our blends we give a dollar a pound we sell to work with community development in South East Asia.
Blessings,
Dave
PS: Thank you again Jim!