By Melanie Davis

The High Country Women’s Fund and Bald Guy Brew have teamed up for a coffee fundraiser to help women and children, both locally and in Latin America.

Boone-based Bald Guy Brew imports fair-trade, organic coffee beans from El Cafe Femenino, a women’s cooperative plantation in Latin America. The profits from the sales enable the women to earn a living wage in a country where it would be difficult to support themselves and their children.

Once imported, Bald Guy Brew roasts the beans for sale as “Cafe Chica: Coffee with a Cause”. The El Cafe Femenino co-op only sells to roasters if a portion of the sales are distributed to local women and children.

Bald Guy Brew donates a portion of the proceeds from the sale of Cafe Chica to the High Country Women’s Fund. Founded in 2006, the HCWF in an initiative of the High Country United Way, specifically for assisting women in Avery and Watauga Counties become self-sufficient.

The money raised through the coffee fundraiser will be used through one of the many areas of support offered by HCWF. The organization helps women with transportation, childcare, education, housing, personal needs and prevention. The prevention aspect involves sponsoring programs that empower women and girls.

Cafe Chica, organic, fair-trade, and locally roasted, retails for $13 per pound. A sample bag is available for $5. It is sold at Bare Essentials, Black Bear Books, Erick’s Cheese and Wine, Kojay’s Coffee, Green Mother Goods, and Peabody’s Wine and Beer.

The coffee may also be purchased through the HCWF by emailing info@highcountrywomensfund.org or calling (828) 264-4007.