Last November, Royal Cup kicked off a special partnership with Neverthirst, an international, non-profit organization dedicated to bringing clean water to populations living in underserved regions, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity or gender. We knew this work was important, and decided to get involved by utilizing our most popular natural resource – coffee.
Once the decision was made, it didn’t take long for our teams to agree that the partnership should be driven by one of Royal Cup’s most sustainable product lines – the Roar single-serve coffee system. Right now, companies across the country are using Roar systems in their office. In fact, as you’re reading this, a businessperson is probably slipping a Roar pod into their machine, hitting “Brew Now” and donating directly to Neverthirst. It’s as easy as that – two cents from every single serving (whole bean or pod) of Roar coffee goes straight to Neverthirst, and helps them achieve their mission.
As you read this, perhaps while enjoying a glass of chilled, filtered water, you may not realize the gravity of the water situation around the globe. It’s understandable, as many of us are so far removed from these issues that we simply can’t wrap our heads around what it would be like to live without access to life-giving water. Well, sit tight – the truth is unsettling, but blissful ignorance is not an option.
Did you know that more than 3.4 million people die each year from water, sanitation, and hygiene-related causes? Now go back, and read that sentence again. It’s critical to see this not as a single statistic, but rather as 3.4 million individual and very real tragedies. Nearly all of these deaths occur in the developing world – think India, Cambodia, South Sudan and Sudan. Shockingly, diarrhea, which is caused by the consumption of drinking unsafe water, kills 2,195 children every day. That is more than AIDS, malaria and measles combined. Clean H2O is scarcity in these areas of the world, and in Africa alone, women spend an unfathomable 40 billion hours per year just collecting water.
Once we discovered how dire the water situation is for so many of our fellow humans, we could not sit idly by. Our first-world problems, like spilling coffee down our shirt before work this morning, pale in comparison. Without clean water, Royal Cup would not be in business and we certainly would not be able to provide high-quality coffee to you fine folks.
Since the launch of our partnership in November 2016, we are thrilled to say that we have raised over $98,000.00 for Neverthirst, which directly funds the construction of wells and water-filtration systems for communities in Cambodia and India. Neverthirst has used Roar funds to build two WASH projects for schools in Cambodia, which provides a bio-sand filter (removes up to 99 percent of harmful bacteria in water), a hand-washing station, a latrine block consisting of four to six toilets with disable access and hygiene education aimed at changing behavior at school and home. The organization has also built four wells, 11 rain tanks and 30 bio-sand filters with latrines across Cambodia, and two wells in India.
Here’s the part where we ask for your help.
First, check out Neverthirst’s website and get educated about the issues and incredible work this organization is doing around the world. Next, get involved. Get your friends involved. Join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #Roar4Change. Neverthirst needs people like you to help spread the word and fundraise. No idea is too big or too small – take a tip from this guy’s crazy-awesome bike ride from Birmingham, Alabama to the Canadian border! Lastly, responsibly chug some Roar coffee – the more you drink, the more you donate. If you don’t have a Roar machine in your office, click HERE to get started.
We promise the coffee will taste good, but nothing satisfies quite like helping those less fortunate.
