Hurricanes & COVID: Families in Honduras need help

Please watch the video and read more below.




Communities have lost their economy, jobs and livelihoods

While COVID is wreaking havoc across the region, two category four hurricanes ripped through Honduras in Central America (with the second being just shy of a category five - the highest category with winds of 157 mph or higher).

An estimated 4 million people across the region were left powerless by the disastrous effects of the hurricanes as persistent rains and heavy winds resulted in flooding, landslides, and economic devastation.

A small region, Copan, is normally bustling with tourism & exporting coffee all over the world has practically shut down. Small farming families cannot produce or export coffee, impacting the economy and jobs across the region. To make matters roads, water and food access has become extremely limited, slowing down the recovery.

Millions of people around the world drink Copan’s coffee every day - the farmers from Copan are desperately in need of your support.

“The second hurricane hit our country with devastating force, we are on our knees and the future is now very uncertain. We are cut off from the rest of the country. We have no internet, we do not have drinking water service” - Wilson



In the media

“Hurricanes leave Hondurans homeless and destitute” - BBC News

“Second devastating hurricane in two weeks lashes fragile nation and leaves villages submerged” - The Guardian

“Flooding left thousands trapped for days without food or water and death toll may never be known” - The Guardian



The costs

Communities in Copan received little government assistance to clear landslide debris from transport routes, medical care for the ill and injured or access to clean running water or food security. Following the impacts of Covid-19 resulting in record-lows in demand for coffee, most community members have been struggling and living below the poverty line already.

The Copan Coffee Co-operative are a collective of coffee growers who are a major contributor to the local economy are are in dire need of financial aid to rebuild roads, help with harvesting crops, rebuild housing and provide medical care to families. Coffee plantations are a key contributor to the region supporting families and the broader economy, so the damage has left the Copan economy completely paralysed.

Beyond physical damage, the knock on effect on people’s wellness & mental health is unmeasurable, depression & anxiety have become prolific as they have no hope of path to recovery.

It will take 2-3 years to rebuild infrastructure, establish healthy crops which are vital to bringing income to the region for thousands of families to survive.
“Any outside help is extremely valuable and will help us meet these urgent needs” - Wilson Colindres, Copan Cooperative General manager



How you can help

All donations will be greatly appreciated whether it's $50 or $5000 all support will directly go to the local community so they can recover.

Your support is truly life changing, thank you.



How the money will be spent

Money donated will go to the farming cooperative who will:

- Restore roads: Hire machinery to clear landslide debris from crucial road to access their farms
- Food supplies: Re-establish locally grown crops and bring in urgent supplies like water and essentials they can’t grow locally
- Housing: Rebuild safe accommodation for families who have been leaving in temporary housing since late November
- Harvest: Equipment & wages to collect any small remaining crops to help reboot the economy
- Medical care: respiratory disease on the rise in the community due to the excessive rain
- Clean and running water  by reconnecting and repairing critical water pipes

Please donate and help get the word out, you can share the link to your social profiles and send it to anyone you think might help.

Behind this campaign

Jasper Coffee has built a direct relationship with the Cooperative in Copan, over the years Jasper have supported them in various ways, including a $10k donation in 2020 to help this crisis. Jasper Coffee will be transferring all the donations made to this campaign. 

Getting money in and out of Honduras is challenging so we decided the safest way to guarantee the money arrives in Copan is via established methods Jasper have used over the years.

Supporting the campaign

Harvey is a small team in Melbourne helping Wilson and the farmers in Copan share this story.
Fancy Films produced the video for the campaign.

If you'd like to support the campaign in anyway, please reach out to us.