Want to Support Asylum Seekers? Get Coffee This Weekend

This weekend, Portlanders can fight the separation of families and detainment of asylum seekers with their morning coffee. Coffee news site Sprudge has partnered with dozens of cafes and roasters across the country to fundraise for ASAP, or the Asylum Seekers Advocacy Project. ASAP connects families with emergency legal aid and advocates for refugees and asylum seekers on a policy level. Coffee shops and roasters are contributing in a variety of ways: Many cafes will be donating 10 percent of all drink proceeds between Friday and Sunday, while some will offer direct donation or donate directly to the organization. The list includes Posies Bakery & Cafe, Either/Or, Stumptown Coffee Roasters, and Water Avenue Coffee, among others.

As asylum seekers continue to be detained at the United States-Mexico border, people across the country have expressed outrage and begun protests and fundraisers in support of immigrants and refugees. Earlier this week, local ice cream shop Fifty Licks served ice cream to protesters at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement building on Macadam, and Pok Pok chef Andy Ricker has been using Twitter to express his outrage with various right-wing pundits and politicians who support the so-called “zero-tolerance policy.”

Social media posts from restaurants and cafes have expressed frustration and outrage with the way the United States treats border-crossing families. “Detaining children is simply disgusting and inhumane not to mention a violation of international law,” a post reads on the Either/Or Facebook page. Liam Brody, the CEO of Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers, wrote a full blog post in protest, including an endorsement of the Keep Families Together Act. “I can’t take another minute of it. Of more parents being robbed of their children. Of children being caged and dehumanized,” he writes. Look at the list below for Portland-based shops participating in the weekend fundraiser, according to the Sprudge post:

The Society Hotel
Posies Bakery & Cafe — 10 percent of drink sales Friday through Sunday
Either/Or — 10 percent of drink sales Friday through Sunday
Heart Coffee Roasters
Marigold Coffee
Stumptown Coffee Roasters — 15% of all proceeds, both online and in-store, Friday only
Sustainable Harvest
Water Avenue Coffee — $1 of each bag of retail coffee, plus direct donations Saturday and Sunday

• Coffee For Families: A Nationwide Fundraiser For ASAP [Sprudge]
• ASAP [Official]
• The family separation crisis at the US border [Vox]
• Fifty Licks ice cream truck offers free cones to Portland ICE protesters [The O]
• Fifty Licks Scooped Free Ice Cream for Occupy ICE Protesters Yesterday [EPDX]