Thanks to Taste of Saints coffee customers who supported genocide survivors

Thanks to Taste of Saints coffee customers who supported genocide survivors

Thanks to everyone who bought coffee at the Genocide Intervention Network's booth at the Taste of Saints. The coffee was grown at a Rwandan cooperative run by widows and orphans who survived Rwanda 's genocide in 1994. Greg Hoyt, owner of Bull Run Roasters, a coffee importing, roasting, and retailing company, imports this coffee and he donated it to the group to sell. In addition to his generous donation, he also "matched" the amount of money the GI-Net earned from selling coffee.

All proceeds will be sent to the national chapter of the Genocide Intervention Network to support nonlethal aid for the African Union peacekeeping troops in Darfur, Sudan, where a civil conflict has killed more than 400,000 people and displaced another two million from their homes.

Jenny Le, member of the student advisory board for the Genocide Intervention Network-St. Thomas chapter and an intern at Bull Run Roasters, coordinated the event.

Thanks, too, to the more than 300 students who signed letters last week to President Bush, urging greater action toward resolution of the genocide in Darfur.

To learn more about relief efforts, visit the national Genocide Intervention Network. To learn about the St. Thomas chapter, contact Sarah Hogan, student president, or Dr. Ellen Kennedy, faculty adviser.