By Joe Bachman
Editor

“Coffee, community, connection — that’s at the heartbeat of what we do.” – Mission Coffee House owner Russ Ehlinger

PLOVER — Some would argue that there’s nothing better than a fresh cup of coffee in the morning; what’s even better is doing so while helping others in need in the community.

On June 12 of last year, the area was hit with a massive storm that flooded and damaged parts of the Stevens Point area. With homes flooded, power lines snapped, and debris spread throughout the city, a once safe haven for children was turned into anything but.

Students at Jefferson Elementary returned to school to find that their playground had been demolished by the storm, as heavy winds tore through and twisted equipment beyond repair, even blowing down a large shade tree.

(Contributed Photo)

“Students and families were initially shocked and sad to see the only shade tree was down, but when we discovered a large portion of the playground had been destroyed in the process —  it was heartbreaking,” said Jefferson Elementary GoFundMe page organizer Kimber Goodwin. “The loss of both sets of monkey bars was particularly hard for many students.”

While a GoFundMe page has been setup for the school in efforts to replace the playground equipment, one local business has stepped up to take on the challenge towards the $15,000 goal, and has already raised $6,000.

Mission Coffee House was first asked if they would donate gift cards to a raffle basket in efforts to raise money for the playground; however, Owner Russ Ehlinger offered something much more grandiose in its place. For every 8 oz. bag sold, Mission Coffee has kicked back $5 in efforts to raise money for the Jefferson playground. As mentioned, these efforts, including roasting coffee for local schools, has already raised $6,000 at the time of this publication.

Photo: Jefferson Elementary Playground after the storm on June 12, 2017. (Contributed)

“We’re so proud that we were made aware of the need so that we could take action,” said Ehlinger. “This is getting pretty big — we’re ordering extra packaging and extra labels.”

Mission Coffee has two locations throughout the area, where customers who buy whole bags of locally sourced and roasted coffee can receive “Mission Bucks” to put that money back anywhere in the Portage County community. It’s a selfless effort that Ehlinger hopes many in the community know about, as the business approaches three years in the area.

“We have more brewing than just coffee,” said Ehlinger. “This coming June is our three-year anniversary, and we’ve only been roasting with this margin in our profitability to really fulfill what our vision has been all along. Now since we’ve been able start roasting, we’ve put a lot of energy to making certain that people are aware of what we’ve done.”

Such awareness has paid off, as Mission recently received an award from the Portage County Business Council for Entrepreneur of the Year. They also serve as the official Welcome Center for the Village of Plover, and a satellite for the Portage County Visitor’s Bureau.

In short, Mission seeks to go above and beyond but not just serving coffee, but by also serving their community.

“We want to know where the needs are; we want to know how we can educate our community, and we can make a difference by choosing which brand of coffee to drink,” said Ehlinger. “Your coffee dollars matter. We’ve created a business model to sustain missions that will make an impact in the community.”

To order your coffee to help support the Jefferson Playground Fund, contact Kim Boden at Jefferson school at 715-345-5418. All checks need to be written out to Jefferson.

To help out another way, please visit the Jefferson Elementary Playground GoFundMe page at https://www.gofundme.com/jefferson-elementary-playground

Mission Coffee House is located at 2860 Post Rd., and inside Adventure 212, 3217 John Joanis Dr.