 It is my honor to welcome everyone to the announcement of Coffee by Design's 2015 Rebel Blend Fund winners. So thank you all for coming. My name is Mary Allen Lindemann and I am co-owner with my partner Allen Spear of Coffee by Design and I can tell you that they're every day is a great day in coffee here at Coffee by Design but they're days that are very near and dear to our heart and I have to say the announcement of our Rebel Blend winners is particularly meaningful to us. Hard to believe this is the 18th year for the Rebel Blend Fund and just to give you a little history of how the Rebel Blend started when we first began the business in 1994 and many of you have heard me talk about the 40% vacancy rate in downtown Portland so imagine Congress Street and 40% empty spaces there. But one of the other groups that were really heavily impacted were the arts organizations and a number of art galleries and venues that used to show art closed because of the recession and that's when Allen and I came back to main and open coffee by design part of our commitment was giving back to the arts community and so we started our Rebel Blend Fund and for those of you who don't know, hopefully you do, we have a coffee called Rebel Blend and it says on our package that a dollar of every pound goes into our artist's fund. Come on, you can show it. I know, this is my Vanna White, I don't know. But anyhow, I think that what's really exciting is that the fund has grown. When you look at the history of people who have been actually given the grant money, it's so exciting to see what happens and the stories that they share of. This was the vote of confidence that got my project moving forward. Many of the projects we fund are under the radar or were considered at the time controversial and so really giving people seed money to get these projects off the ground has been really instrumental and it's the stories I hear about this project got going or I was able to get additional grant monies because I could show that I had received money somewhere else or just the fact that you believed in me gave confidence that I could actually move it forward. And I should say that it's not that Allen and I are the ones who give the vote of confidence because it's actually a team of coffee by design staff members who make the deciding votes on this project. We do a call for proposals once a year and then our staff select a committee that are made up of retail staff members, Roastery and our management team. They are the ones who from the proposals we receive choose the recipients and the amount of money that they receive. So again, it's an amazing tradition and to see the stories of how these different recipients have really grown. They're seed money into great projects not only for the state of Maine but throughout the country. Many of these projects have gone on nationally. It's been really exciting for us to see. But without further ado, I would actually like to announce this year's winners. And I can tell you that years of getting the call for proposals out and getting a fair number of applications but wondering, gee, why aren't there more? Well, this year we got that boy there or more. And so our committee had a very challenging decision and actually chose four recipients out of 22. And I have to say 22 of really competitive applications for this year. So what I'd like to do is announce each winner. Actually give them their check and give them a moment to talk briefly about their project. I'll tell you a little bit about them but let them speak from their own hearts about their project. We'd like to then take a photograph with them and then I will announce the next winner. So Alan, maybe if you could help me hand out the checks. Yes. The first recipient is Hannah Rosengren. I hope I pronounced last names correctly. Let me know if I don't. Her project, Cultivating Apollinator, The Friendly Yard, A Seasonal Guide for Mainers. To address the rapidly declining population of bees, Rosengren created a poster in 2013 illustrating plants known to attract bees. The illustration went viral. Since then, she has shifted her focus to Maine specifically. Outlining steps residents can take to help all native pollinators and to care for their yards in an eco-friendly way. Going beyond not just what to plant but why and how. The funds will be used to produce a seasonally specific illustrated zine to communicate this information in a user-friendly way. We have information online that's listed here on our poster, HannahRosengren.com. But in the meantime, I'd like to welcome Hannah to the podium. This is a project that I've been really wanting to work on for almost a year now. So I was just so grateful for coffee by design support. When I found out that I could go ahead and make something that I could distribute throughout Maine, I was really excited because I feel like this is an issue that isn't very approachable. And I think that illustration can be a really good way of communicating environmental issues. So I'm very excited. Next, I'd like to introduce Leslie McVane. Her project, White Like You Mommy, is really critical. I mean, every project here, it's amazing. They are art projects but the political statement, the important issues these projects are addressing, I can't tell you how important and how thankful all of us here in the state of Maine are for these artists. Literally, there are two main goals for the project. One is to introduce people to the documentary storytelling through video medium. And to create a visual personal piece that reflects a part of the population that is not normally recognized. The project grew out of the artist's experience when putting her then three-year-old biracial daughter to bed. It opened her eyes to the responsibilities that come with mothering a child of color in the USA. With the added complexity of being a white mother whose heritage was not fraught with racist prejudice. This documentary film shares the stories of white mothers, their black children, and in some cases their grandchildren. These stories are an increasingly important part of the changing face of the new Maine. I'd like to introduce Leslie McVane. This is a story, this project has actually been sitting with me for 29 years and the birth of my granddaughter just sort of pushed me to really get up and do something about it. And this grant is really going to help. And I hope it will explain some of the differences in a white and black family that right now in history we're having so many racial problems that maybe this will help a little bit in understanding some of the differences. And the demographic that hasn't been dealt with before. Thank you. Next we have Salvage Crafts, which was submitted by David Fraser Johnson through USMs and Actors Organization. And it's always nice when, and we've had this happen a few times, that we've had former Coffee by Design staff members who we know do great things and they do great things and then they win Rebel Blend grants. So Fraser is one of those people who near and dear. The Salvage Crafts project is managed by Enactus at the University of Southern Maine. The group will implement this project through creative work systems and their Yes Arts Works program to offer an opportunity for individuals living with developmental disabilities to generate their own source of income. It will simultaneously reduce the amount of non-recycle paper waste being disposed of by local businesses. Participants will be taught to make handmade crafts, specifically craft paper through a special process using recycled paper products. Project leads will then assist in marketing these products throughout Maine as well as online, creating income for those artists who are making the crafts. So I'd like to have Fraser come to the podium. Really can't begin to say how grateful we are for this. We've been working so hard to get this project off the ground since February. And I'm just so, so excited to watch this project flourish and make it grow over the next year. To the Rebel Fund Committee, thank you so much for this opportunity and to Mary Allen and Allen. Thank you so much for your commitment to giving back to the community. Our last recipient and I was joking with Leandro, I feel like you should just set up residents here because we have a very close relationship now with the Burundi community both here in Portland as well as at Origin because of our Burundi coffee project. The final recipient of this year's Rebel Blend Grant is the main Burundi drumming World Connect, which Leandre Habinimana, and I'm going to pronounce your last name really incorrectly, and the Batimbo Beats. In 2011, a group of Burundians living in Portland and trained in the ritual dance of Burundi drum organized to form the Burundi, the Batimbo Beats. Since its creation, the group has shown its commitment to Southern Maine by performing throughout the area and if any of you have not had the opportunity and we've had them perform here twice, I encourage you, if they're performing, make the time to see them. The group addresses the needs of the Burundi community while introducing its unique form of dance to the area. The Batimbo Beats use their performance to promote societal development and grow awareness of cultural diversity in Maine. They will use their Rebel Blend funding to purchase materials, particularly those that they can only acquire from Burundi, such as the skins to repair their drums and the traditional costumes they wear. So I'd like to welcome Leandre to the stage. I'm very, very excited to be one of the winners and this is going to create new opportunities for the group of Batimbo Beats, the Burundi drummers. And I think we'll be able to get new equipment to keep being connected to the community here. And it's also a great opportunity to get connected with different generations and different people from different origins. Thank you so much. I also, in addition to receiving checks, I want to acknowledge a really powerful partnership we have with our bank, Anders Goggan Bank. And when we were purchasing the Diamond Street building and we're meeting with different banks, one of the things that at least Anders Goggan folks said was important to them was our community involvement. And so as soon as they loaned us the money to purchase and renovate the building, we then said, well, now prove to us what you can do for us. After they'd given us a significant amount of money, which was important, but now proved that the community piece is important. And what Anders Goggan has offered in partnership, which is so critically important, is the marketing of the Rebel Blend winners. And so in the November 30th issue of Main Biz, there will actually be this ad announcing the winners, which includes links to their sites and email addresses. So people who are interested in finding out more about these projects have an opportunity to learn more and hopefully will help continue to fund these outstanding projects. So thank you to Anders Goggan Bank for being our partner. And thank you for coming here today.