Firehouse Blend Coffee

We are so excited to partner with the Bozeman Firefighters to help them kick start this fundraiser. To place an order you can also call our office at 406-586-8109

The article below was published in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle earlier this week and does a good job of explaining the fundraiser.

Anyone walking down the coffee aisle at a couple local grocers today might notice a different brand resting on the shelves near the bags of Starbucks and Montana Coffee Traders.
The Bozeman firefighters’ union, the Local 613, along with City Brew Coffee, has put out a private label coffee.

The “Firehouse Blend,” complete with a fireman’s helmet with the number “613” on the bag, is being sold as a fundraiser for the union’s benevolence fund. Described as smoky and bold, it was made by City Brew Coffee. The Billings company is splitting 20 percent of its profits with the International Association of Firefighters’ Burn Foundation. That money will go to the International Burn Camp in Washington, D.C., where a firefighter and a child from each state spend a week together.

Money from sales of individual bags of coffee goes entirely to the local union’s benevolence fund, said Josh Charles, an engineer with the Bozeman Fire Department. The benevolence fund is for things such as buying toothbrushes and clothes for families affected by house fires and to help firefighters unable to work because of injuries, he said.

“Every bag we sell stays locally in Bozeman,” Charles said. “We wanted to have this fundraiser so we could give more back.”

It took about a year of planning and trying to make it work before the union was able to join with City Brew. The union had to commit to buying 720 bags of coffee and couldn’t find the money.
But a donation from Buffalo Restoration, a Bozeman-based company that does insurance damage repair, covered that upfront cost.
 
“We go in after (the firefighters) leave and we get to see firsthand the great job they’ve done in terrible circumstances,” said Ben Yanker, company president. “(We’ve) just really come to respect those guys and what they do to help members of the community. They go above and beyond.”

The coffee is sold at Joe’s Parkway Market and both Town & Country Foods stores in Bozeman. If all the bags go for the “minimum donation” of $10, the fundraiser should bring in about $4,000, said Cherie Swanson, business development director with City Brew Coffee and the mind behind the fundraiser.
It’s really cool, Yanker said. Selling the coffee gives the firefighters another way to raise money to give back to the community.

And some of the money from this first round of sales will go toward buying the next 360 bags of coffee, so the fundraiser can continue.

“We’re just proud to help these guys out,” Yanker said.