A Nationwide Coffee Fundraiser For The ACLU

Not all heroes wear capes, but all lawyers need coffee.

Sprudge is not a political publication. We did not endorse a 2016 US Presidential Candidate, nor have we endorsed past candidates in elections in the United States or elsewhere. Although Sprudge is edited and published in the US, roughly half our daily readers come from outside of this country, as does our worldwide corps of editors, staff writers, and contributors. We don’t typically report on anyone’s local politics—and at some point, it’s all just local politics.

“Stick to coffee, Sprudge!”

We’d love to, but unfortunately the situation in our country has moved beyond political theater. We believe that the current executive order banning refugees from the United States and immigration from 7 majority Muslim nations is illegal, immoral, and fundamentally un-American. Like a hot mug of drip coffee spilled on a crisp white apron, these actions are a dark stain on our national conscience, and as Americans we feel compelled to stand up against them.

Fortunately there are heroes in these dark times. The United States is a nation of laws, not of men, and our government has three branches—Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. It is in this final branch where the battle is now being fought, by the thousands of lawyers organized and funded by the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU is America’s non-partisan guardian of liberty, working tirelessly since 1920 to defend the country’s original civic values, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. They have no political affiliation or ideological component to their mission. Today they’re defending innocent refugee and immigrant families impacted by the recent executive orders—tomorrow they could be defending you, because they are committed to defending all of us.

So we’re standing with them by organizing a nationwide fundraiser in coffee bars across the country. Next weekend—Friday February 3rd thru Friday February 5th—we’re partnering with coffee companies throughout the United States to raise funds for the ACLU.  You can take part in this fundraiser by patronizing these cafes, or by donating directly to the ACLU.

Sprudge will match the first $500 per company raised next weekend for the ACLU, in partnership with the following twenty-six coffee brands across 125 cafes:

All Day, Miami, FL

Blacksmith Coffee, Morningstar & Greenway Coffee, Houston, TX (3 locations)

Blueprint Coffee, St. Louis, MO

Blue Bottle Coffee, Oakland, CA (25 locations in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland)

Coffee Manufactory & Tartine Manufactory, San Francisco, CA

Cultivar Coffee, Dallas, TX (3 locations)

Either / Or, Portland, OR

Equator Coffees & Teas, San Rafael, CA (5 locations across the Bay Area)

Everyman Espresso, New York, NY (2 locations in Manhattan)

Fleet Coffee, Austin, TX

G&B Coffee and Go Get Em Tiger, Los Angeles, CA (3 locations)

Huckleberry Coffee Roasters, Denver, CO (2 locations)

Intelligentsia Coffee, Chicago, IL (10 locations in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles)

Joe Coffee, New York, NY (15 locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Philadelphia)

La Colombe Coffee Roasters, Philadelphia, PA (22 locations in New York, Boston, Chicago, Washington DC and Philadelphia)

Olympia Coffee Roasting Company, Olympia, WA (3 locations)

PT’s Coffee, Topeka, KS (2 locations in Topeka and Kansas City, MO)

Peace Coffee, Minneapolis, MN (Wonderland Park location)

Slate Coffee, Seattle, WA (4 locations)

Spiller Park Coffee, Atlanta, GA

Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Portland, OR (12 locations in Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, and New Orleans)

Tipico Coffee, Buffalo, NY

Ultimo Coffee, Philadelphia, PA (2 locations)

Variety Coffee Roasters, Brooklyn, NY (3 locations)

The Wormhole & Halfwit Coffee Roasters, Chicago, IL

Wrecking Ball Coffee, San Francisco, CA

We are actively seeking more cafes to join in this effort! If you own or operate a cafe and want to get involved, we welcome you to join us next weekend. Please click here add your name to the list of cafes raising funds next weekend to support the ACLU. We’ll update with more participating cafes throughout the week.

If you own or operate any sort of coffee company—importer, machine manufacturer, products supplier, private citizen or media company—we would love your support in the form of matching sponsorships. Please click here and we will give you all the information you need to join us as a matching fundraiser. We hope to publish a long list of matching companies in the coming days.

If you live beyond easy visitation distance from any of the cafes participating this weekend, or want to just donate without all the rest of it, please consider making your tax deductible donation directly to the ACLU.

To our readers around the world, let us be clear: Americans of all stripes, all political backgrounds and beliefs, are deeply troubled and shocked by the refugee and immigration orders. This is not a coastal elite issue, or a hardcore liberal issue—it is not a Democrat or Republican issue, nor really even a political issue. This is a human issue, and one on which there can be no equivocation. America is a nation of immigrants and refugees, and whether your family came a year ago or 150 years ago, we are equal. All immigrants are refugees are welcome here no matter their spiritual beliefs, their country of origin, or color of their skin.

Thank you for joining us.

#RefugeesWelcome

#YesEqual

Jordan Michelman, co-founder, Editor

Zachary Carlsen, co-founder, Editor

Zac Cadwalader, News Editor, Staff Writer

Mike Wolf, Features Editor

Max Ortiz, Processing Editor

Robyn Brems, Accounts Manager

Noah Sanders, Staff Writer, SF Bureau Chief

Anna Brones, Staff Writer-At-Large

Daniel Scheffler, Staff Writer-At-Large

Karina Hof, Staff Writer

Tatiana Ernst, Staff Writer

Hengtee Lim, Staff Writer

Charlie Burt, SprudgeLive Lead Photographer, Contributor

Eileen P. Kenny, Contributor

Jenn Chen, Contributor

Lizzie Derksen, Contributor

Evan C. Jones, Contributor

Laura Jaye Cramer, Contributor

Michael Light, Contributor

D. Robert Wolcheck, Contributor

Eric J. Grimm, Contributor

Ximena Rubio, Contributor

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