Rotary Club of Lake Houston Area President, Eric Gomez, introduced the club’s guest speaker, Kim Rogers, founder of non-profit “Heart for Guatemala”. Ms. Rogers explained in a talk with Lake Houston Rotarians that every bag of Heart for Guatemala coffee is grown, harvested and roasted by a consortium of all female coffee growers. When you order a bag of their single-source specialty gourmet coffee, you are directly improving the lives of women, children and their families in Guatemala. To order visit: https://www.heartforguatemala.org/shop (Photo by Shannon Carr)
After her fourth visit to Guatemala in 2018, Kim Rogers returned to the United States with an idea.
She thought, “I live in Houston, Texas a city of 8 million people. Everyone there who has any money has been to Cancun or Los Cabos but almost no one knows about Antigua.”
Ms. Rogers grew up as a world traveler and has a degree in Travel Management and many connections that could help Guatemalans. She came home with the idea to promote travel to Guatemala and invite people to serve our neighbors in Central America.
She shared her passion to help the people of Guatemala and her early connection with Rotary with members of the Rotary Club of Lake Houston Area during their weekly luncheon at the Lake Houston Family YMCA on October 19th.
As a high school junior, she became a Rotary Club Exchange Student and Ambassador for World Peace in Chile, South America. She grew up and went on to travel all over the world including 30 cities in Mexico, 40 U.S. states, and 28 countries in Europe, Central and South America and the Caribbean.
While Ms. Rogers started out with the idea of promoting travel to Guatemala and especially, Antigua, she soon branched out to try and improve the educational opportunities for disadvantaged children. Unfortunately, 74% of the population over the age of 15 is illiterate.
She also realized that education alone wasn’t enough, Guatemalans need employment opportunities too.
In 2020, her activities in Guatemala evolved into a non-profit called “Heart for Guatemala”. Ms. Rogers charity mission is to assist, support, and show love to the people of Guatemala by raising financial support through donations, eCommerce, and service & leisure travel that help foster a variety of educational, economic and social projects.
Those projects include: Support for a small private K – 9th grade School in Jocotenango, near Antigua that serves more than 180 students (and their families) who are in extreme poverty. Sponsored students receive an advanced education, two meals per day, family counseling and after school programs; Partnered to repair a recently completed boys and girls’ restroom at a public K-9 school in the rural town of Taxisco, serving over 300 students; providing financial planning classes; and partnered with local female owned coffee growers to offer premium coffee beans for sale directly to consumers in the United States.
Heart for Guatemala is a specialty coffee that inspires. This incredible coffee gets its quality and flavor from a combination of the ideal conditions in which it’s grown and the women who produce it. There are three different types of Guatemalan beans available, Dark Roast, Medium Roast and Pure Espresso. Each one-pound bag is just $20 and is shipped free via UPS.
Every bag of Heart for Guatemala coffee is grown, harvested and roasted by a consortium of all female coffee growers. When you enjoy a cup of their single-source specialty gourmet coffee, you’re not only immersed in a coffee of complex flavors, but you are also directly supporting the women who produce it, improving lives of women, children and their families in Guatemala.
To purchase premium Guatemalan coffee and help the women and children of Guatemala visit https://www.heartforguatemala.org/shop.
Rotary Club of Lake Houston Area members and guests meet at 11:45 a.m. Wednesdays for their weekly lunch meeting at the Lake Houston Family YMCA, 2420 West Lake Houston Pkwy. in Kingwood.
The Summer Creek Satellite Club meets the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month at 8:30 a.m., at Generation Park 3rd floor Nimble Office Suite, 250 Assay St., Houston.
For more information about Rotary or membership, attend one of our meetings or visit www.LHARotary.com or search for our Facebook page @LakeHoustonAreaRotary.
The Summer Creek Satellite Club meets the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month at 8:30 a.m., at Generation Park 3rd floor Nimble Office Suite, 250 Assay St., Houston.
For more information about Rotary or membership, attend one of our meetings or visit www.LHARotary.com or search for our Facebook page @LakeHoustonAreaRotary.