Fundraiser Serves Up Coffee Ethiopian Style
A traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony will highlight the "Coffee for a Cure" fundraiser that the Laguna Coffee Company is hosting from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday, July 18. A buffet of Ethiopian foods and traditional Ethiopian music will complete the evening's ambience for a suggested donation of $25 per person, which will benefit Life's Second Chance Foundation, founded by Laguna Beach resident Wossene Bowler.
A native of Ethiopia, Bowler survived leukemia thanks to state-of-the-art treatment and a bone marrow transplant from her brother. Given a second chance in life, she wondered if she would have had the same chance in Ethiopia, and discovered that cancer treatment programs of any kind in her homeland were simply not available to most residents. That's when she decided that she should use her second chance to help improve the odds of survival for those less fortunate.
Bowler founded Life's Second Chance Foundation to promote prevention, detection and treatment of cancer, and to fund and build a specialized cancer hospital in Ethiopia. As a regular customer at the Laguna Coffee Company, Bowler had shared her story with owners Paul and Cathy Ackley. "When Wossene approached us about hosting the coffee ceremony, it just seemed a natural fit," said Paul. "As business owners, Cathy and I are very aware of our responsibility to the community - we try to be as involved as we can."
Participants will "experience a uniquely Ethiopian ambiance characterized by warm support, friendship, and the kind of unconditional hospitality that surpasses expectation," said Bowler, who explained that coffee made from Ethiopian beans is "the drink of life." Yirgacheffe, an Ethiopian single-origin coffee purchased raw by the Ackelys and roasted on the premises, will be used in the ceremony, 1050 S. Coast Highway.
The shop is open seven days a week, from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, from 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays, and from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays. Live jazz is featured from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday. For more information, visit www.LagunaCoffeeCo. com or call 494-6901.
For additional information about Life's Second Chance, or to pre-purchase a Coffee for a Cure ticket, call 295-9937 or visit www.LifesSecondChance.org.
