Caribou Coffee Gives Back on National Coffee Day at Peavey Plaza

I’ll confess. I am one of those “snobs” that won’t hang out in chain restaurants or coffee shops. In fact, I often go out of my way to find unique, hole-in-the-wall or off-the-beaten-track cafés before visiting a more mainstream place.

But this post is not about that. It’s about how food and beverages, regardless of environment, have the power to do more than satisfy our taste buds. It’s about how they also have the ability to bring us—and all of our vast tastes and experiences—together and actually make a difference. And in cases such as this, I am more than happy to make an exception to that stingy rule I have.

Caribou Coffee, for example, will be taking advantage of National Coffee Day Tuesday, Sept. 29 to kick off their support for breast cancer awareness at Peavey Plaza, which is located at the south end of Nicollet Mall.

“For the past 20 years, Caribou Coffee has supported breast cancer awareness through Amy’s Blend, a blend dedicated to our original Roastmaster Amy Erickson who passed away from cancer in 1995. While most (establishments) celebrate National Coffee Day with free coffee, this year Caribou Coffee is using the celebratory coffee day as an opportunity to give back and kick off their 20th year of support for breast cancer awareness,” Bri Bauer, Senior Manager of Public Relations for Caribou Coffee, said.

So for every free cup sampled on Tuesday, Caribou Coffee will donate a cup of coffee to nurses and families in cancer centers throughout the country. An additional cup will be donated for every cup of Amy’s Blend that is purchased. What’s more is that 10 percent of all Amy’s Blend coffee and merchandise purchases go to supporting the nonprofit, CancerCare®. Kimberly Caro of Legend Public Relations said they are hoping to sell 30,000 cups in order to donate up to $250,000.

Caro said Peavey Plaza was selected for this event because Caribou Coffee wants to kick off the celebration in their home state of Minnesota on National Coffee Day.

“We hope that Peavey Plaza’s high foot traffic will allow us to donate a lot of coffee,” Bauer added.

It turns out, your need for a caffeine fix has the power to make a small difference this upcoming National Coffee Day. So if you are downtown on Tuesday, why not stop by Peavey Plaza and help out a good cause?