Our Mission
As a parent of a 15 year old son with Autism, I know firsthand how my family’s life has been disrupted and impacted emotionally and financially by this diagnosis. We searched for months to find an answer or explanation for the sudden onset of our son Joshua’s withdrawal from “our world.” He stopped talking; looking at us and giving us input as to what he wanted or was thinking. We were able to receive a diagnosis for him by age two and a half years so we could get started looking for ways to help him overcome this disability. We were able to set up an aggressive ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) program in our home supplemented with Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy and many other alternative therapies. We had the advantage of starting early but only because of the generous financial and practical support we received from our family and friends.
The “Autism years” are how we describe the early years with this diagnosis which were some of the hardest times for our family. Over the years we have met and gotten to know other families struggling with this also. Sadly, many of them face this alone, without financial, emotional, or spiritual help and encouragement from others. This is where our dream began. Most everyone drinks coffee and everyone wears clothing. So, we decided to develop some great products, make them available via the internet to consumers at affordable prices. Coffee Zoo in turn will give 10% of the company’s net profits to partner with you and your local autism center to meet specific needs in your community. As a young company we only have a few partners that we currently link to, but check back often to see if your local center is listed.
CoffeeZoo was inspired by Joshua because of his love and interest in animals, especially ones found at the zoo. With our family’s background in the coffee industry for more than 15 years, starting a coffee company seemed a natural fit to meet our goal. CoffeeZoo was a natural choice because almost every great coffee growing region in the world is represented by a very unique animal. For example, when you think of African coffees you see Zebra, Giraffe, Rhino and Elephant. Sumatra has the Tiger Rwanda has the Gorilla. The list is endless and we will be adding new animals to our “Zoo” line-up on a regular basis. Our long-term goal is to someday have a complete roasting, packaging and shipping facility staffed with adolescents and adults with Autism learning marketable life skills that will put them on the road to independent living.
One day we hope to live to find the answers to this puzzling disorder. Until then we keep searching for better treatment options and brighter futures for these very special children. We hope that you will partner with us to make a difference in their lives and the lives of their families.
Sincerely,
President - CoffeeZoo, Inc.