You Can Now Help the Homeless in Portland Just by Picking Up a Bag of Coffee

Soon you'll be able help the homeless for the price of a bag of coffee.

Starting December 1, local roaster Marigold Coffee will sell bags of Street Roast coffee at New Seasons stores and at their cafe on Southeast Holgate Boulevard.

Proceeds from all Street Roast bags will go toward Street Roots, a community newspaper that both employs homeless Portlanders and deals with issues that directly affect their community.

"The story of Street Roast is a story of how the private sector and the nonprofit sector can come together to support social change," writes departing Street Roots director Israel Bayer, who announced the news November 24 in the newspaper. "When Street Roast hits the shelves in December, it will be an example of how we can all be working together to create social change, one cup of coffee at a time."

The idea was hatched by a team of graphic design interns at Oregon State University, with the help of local ad and branding agencies Ideaville and Curate.org. Marigold and New Seasons quickly signed on when asked.

"Too often ordinary Portland residents tune out and stop seeing the person caught in a bad situation as a human being with a unique story full of hope and fear, needs and gifts same as their own," Marigold's Cassy Gleason told Street Roots. "We couldn't be happier to be a part of helping Street Roots."

You can read more details about how the Street Roast coffee came together on Bayer's post for Street Roots. You could also just buy the damn paper next time you're at Powell's or the grocery store.