Longtime members of the historic Bronson Park congregation, the two friends are often on hand for the hour-long time of fellowship prior to the 11 a.m. service.
Once in a while they might eat a doughnut or one of the bagels piled on a table in the room. But almost always they drink java from the Presbyterian Coffee Project.
Served up as a way to support small coffee growers and their families overseas, the brewed beverages at the local church are as much a mission as they are a form of refreshment.
"This is a great idea," Harik, chairman of the economics department at Western Michigan University, said. "It's a small effort. But it's possible that if it keeps growing, that the big corporations will pay attention."
Like the church here, some 5,100 places of worship and religious organizations across the country are participating in what is called the Equal Exchange Interfaith Coffee Program.
Equal Exchange was founded several years ago "to create a new approach to trade, one that includes informed consumers, honest and fair trade relationships and cooperative principles," says literature put out by the exchange, based in Canton, Mass.
Called "coffee with a cause," this is joe that cuts out the corporate middlemen -- called "coyotes" by the growers -- in other countries, who ship coffee, tea and cocoa to consumers in the United States.
The cost is a little higher than for what similar brews go for in the supermarket.
But as a way of paying heed to the demands of Christian conscience, church members say, shelling out a few more pennies per pound doesn't matter.
"We're doing this to support indigent farmers," Phyllis Goodman, one of the coordinators of the coffee project at First Presbyterian, said. "By doing this, we can help to get money to the farmers who need it to improve their lives."
Complex problem
While churches may be excited about providing coffee with political purpose, corporate coffee makers say things are not simple in today's multinational marketplace.
Officials with the National Coffee Association, which represents large, medium and small coffee wholesalers in this country, say Equal Exchange is taking only one of many approaches in trying to address a complex problem.
"They seem to be well-organized and developing a widespread marketing program through alternative distribution sources," Jay Molishever, director of communications for the association, located in New York City, said.
But the fair-trade, morally based approach taken by Equal Exchange is not going to answer what to do about a worldwide glut in coffee production.
According to the Worldwatch Institute in Washington, D.C., international coffee production hit an all-time high in 2000, jumping 10 percent, to 7.1 million tons. That is a nearly a 60 percent increase since 1961.
Everything from weather conditions to import restrictions to improved coffee-growing techniques to the entry of Vietnam into the market have contributed to the overproduction.
Meanwhile, the price paid to farmers has fallen more than 70 percent over the past five years.
"Blaming the problem on big corporate capitalism in this instance isn't valid," Molishever said. "The suffering that the small producers are experiencing is part of the crisis affecting the whole industry."
This isn't to deny, however, the problem posed by price-gouging middle men -- the coyotes.
Coyotes often operate in remote, barely accessible areas and exploit small farmers by paying them the lowest price possible to obtain coffee for the world market, Molishever said.
"There are many legitimate problems, which are putting a squeeze on the entire supply chain," he said.
The payoff
Equal Exchange officials say their program targets the small farmer by making him less dependent on the coyotes.
Fair-trade coffee guarantees small-farmer cooperatives a fair price -- at least $1.26 per pound for conventional coffee and $1.41 for shade-grown, organic coffee.
Prices for fair-trade coffee range from about $5 to $12 a pound. Comparatively, a pound of coffee at Meijer's, an area retailer and grocery chain, runs a little lower, with a pound of Starbucks, for example, going for about $10.
"By purchasing fairly traded coffee ... (churches ensure) that the farmers benefit in this time of crisis and receive long-term support when prices rise," Erbin Crowell, Equal Exchange's program coordinator, said.
Last year, Equal Exchange sold 60 tons of coffee through its various partnerships and paid the cooperatives $960,000 in above-market premiums, Jill Winkle, another of the organization's officials, said.
Churches and other faith groups that are part of the program can choose from a wide range of products from Latin America, Asia and Africa.
These include such popular brands as Kafe Haiti, Tanzanian Jubilee and Organic Darjeeling Tea.
"I was real taken when I learned about this program a year or so ago at a Presbyterian women's meeting," Joyce Petro, one of the coordinators of the fair-trade-coffee social hour at First Presbyterian, said.
"This is a good way for people to become aware of some issues, such as the fact that coffee is next to oil" in terms of trade volume on the international market, Petro said.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) joined Equal Exchange's Interfaith Coffee Program in 2001.
Other participating organizations include Lutheran World Relief, the United Methodist Committee on Relief, the Unitarian-Universalist Service Committee, American Friends Service Committee and the Church of the Brethren.
The Rev. David Van Arsdale, senior minister at Kalamazoo's First Presbyterian, said he sees great value in the program.
"I think it provides for an opportunity for we in the United States to be educated regarding the conditions that affect the products we use every day," he said.
A growing movement
While First Presbyterian in Kalamazoo has been at it for going on two years, Richland's First Presbyterian just recently started serving fair-trade coffee at its Sunday social hour, as well as during other church functions.
"It is really starting to take off here. We're already on our third case," Cindi Lebiecki, a coordinator of the coffee program in Richland, said.
Richland uses pillow-pack coffee, drip-grind and a fair amount of fair-trade tea.
Until now, the church bought whatever coffee was on sale at the supermarket. While the price of the fair-trade coffee is a little higher, church members say what it offers makes the cost difference more than worth it.
"People enjoy visiting around a cup of coffee and talking about the issues -- such as justice and fair prices," Lebiecki said.
It's only fair
At First Presbyterian in Kalamazoo last Sunday, worshippers drifted in and out of the Guild Room, some grabbing coffee and heading out. Others stayed to sip and talk.
Available in the hand-pump carafes for the coffee hour was Colombian organic decaf, Cafe Salvador and a brand of French vanilla. For sale were packages of a range of coffees, teas and cocoa.
"This has caught on like wildfire around here," said Petro, one of the coordinators of the project. "Some Sundays, especially around Christmas, we may use and sell between 25 and 30 bags."
Among those drinking fair-trade coffee was John Vermeulen. As his wife, Kay, went over to buy a bag of Equal Exchange tea, Vermeulen said he supports the fair-trade concept.
Although he is owner of a furniture store and isn't particularly keen on economic programs that dull competition, in this case he thinks the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
"Absolutely, this is an appropriate thing," he said. "All churches have social hours. Why not get involved in doing this?"
Chris Meehan can be reached at 388-8412 or cmeehan@kalamazoogazette.com.