Local coffee shop operates with global awareness

The Pourhouse Café, a nonprofit organization, helps global agencies and carefully chooses what global needs to assist.

Brad Pontius, the global outreach minister at the cafe, said all tips and donations go directly to orphanages, hospitals and schools.

“Fair trade paints a good picture, but direct trade is exactly how it sounds,” he said, referring to the lack of a middle man at the Pourhouse.

While Pourhouse supporters often recommend diverse charities, when Pontius looks into them they usually are not as direct as he’d like. He said he visits many of the countries the cafe donates to for a first-person opportunity instead.

“Other businesses donate to charities,” he said. “We’re more focused on it.”

He said the cafe opened in February 2008 so people could “channel global and local assistance for needs we knew existed.”

The cafe has been able to donate $40,000 so far from tips and donations rather than profits. When it becomes more profitable, it will be able to provide more assistance.

The cafe has also been able to donate to local charities such as the Salvation Army and assist with a local flood relief and backpack project.

Abigail Brooks, a senior and Pourhouse enthusiast, said she frequents the cafe about once a week.

“If I’m going to spend money on coffee, I might as well do it where I know it’ll be used responsibly,” she said.

Pontius said he snapped almost all of the global pictures on the walls and tables at orphanages and other agencies he’s visited.

“The pictures make the world smaller,” he said. “People are aware that there are different people out there. It creates awareness while drinking coffee.”