Honoring Our Relationship With The People Of Ukraine
Our Heart for Ukraine
What is happening in Ukraine is horrible and we have no words for it. With this newsletter, we wanted to honor our relationship with the people of Ukraine, and give our audience a few practical ways you can support—wherever you are in the world.
For Sovda, we have had a working relationship with the people of Ukraine, since near our conception. In April of 2019, at our first SCA event in Boston, we met Arthur who was the development head of the Ukrainian company, Lodmar. A few months later, Lodmar began distributing Sovda, becoming our first distributor ever, and our fourth client. A couple of years later, Sovda CEO Maxime, went to Kiev to train the technical and sales team of Lodmar. The hospitality, high work ethic and dynamism of the team made it a memorable trip.
Caption, Left: Iryna Yuzvyk, Director of Karma Kava, and wife to Arthur. 2nd to Left: Arthur, Lodmar Head of Coffee. Middle: Max Boegler, CEO of Sovda. Right: Slava Babich, Head of Coffee for Khlebniy.
Today, the future of Lodmar is uncertain, as well as the future of Ukraine. Arthur is currently in the USA where he flew for the birth of his child prior to the war starting. He is not able to return to his country, so he is doing what he is able to do remotely by sending necessary items from the US to Ukraine.
Caption: Brothers and Lodmar staff, Konstantin and Andrij, verify that the sorted beans are meeting standards.
If you are looking for a more direct way to help, because you are not a part of the surrounding countries, an organization that we support is the World Central Kitchen. They have served 1 millions meals in Ukraine and the neighboring countries so far.
Caption: Igor, head of service for Lodmar, in Kiev with Maxime Boegler, CEO of Sovda.
We put together a list of roasters we appreciate and who have released special coffee blends to raise proceeds for Ukraine. We know the list is not exhaustive.
Roasters supporting Ukraine
Dark Arts Coffee in the UK
“£2 from every box is donated to help support the victims and refugees displaced by the war in Ukraine.
“All of the coffees we will be fulfilling orders with come from future releases that we had ready to go and are all absolute bangers. Unfortunately, this will only be available for a limited time.”
19grams in Germany
“Donation for Ukrainian refugees in Berlin! With this coffee we want to help people who are fleeing Ukraine and are coming to Berlin. We will be collecting proceeds from now through March 20th. The proceeds from the sale go to various organizations that directly benefit refugees in Berlin. We will publish here shortly what exactly these are, so that you can track your money transparently. You have the choice of getting our Wild At Heart espresso as a bean or in a capsule for your donation.”
Wild At Heat - Ukraine Fundraiser Espresso | 19grams Coffee Roasters
Rosso Coffee Roasters in Canada
“We've brought back the fan favourite Brazilian coffee, Santa Lucia, as an online fundraiser for the people of Ukraine. All profits from this Support Ukraine Coffee will go to Humanitarian Coalition to provide food, water, shelter and healthcare for those displaced by the crisis. The Humanitarian Coalition is a BBB accredited charity, that combines Canada's leading aid agencies.”
https://www.rossocoffeeroasters.com/products/support-ukraine