I was extremely honoured to have been invited to the CoffeeKids 20th Anniversary Gala Dinner and Reception last night, especially since this was also Bill Fishbein's retirement party.

Fishbein, as you may know, founded CoffeeKids back in 1988 in a widely known story about business failures (his own), followed by a business rebirth (Coffee Exchange) and the eye opening moments he had when visiting origin for the first time. Since then, he's dedicated his life to making the organization grow and prosper, and now he's stepping down as the extremely capable Carolyn Fairman takes over the reigns as Executive Director.

The evening was full of speeches, videos, and seriously good times. Fairman handled the introductory speech and it was so heartfelt about the organization and the man she's taking over from, she was choked up, and I have to admit, so was I from the bleachers. Fishbein then got up to a standing ovation, and spent the next 45 minutes talking about his start, the start of CoffeeKids, some highlight moments, and an awful lot of shared gratitude with others who have made the organization what it is today. It ended with another standing ovation, and then we had a chance to eat while the CoffeeKids movie played (find it on their website).

The evening wrapped up with further speeches by Rob Stephens (CoffeeKids' Board President), Rick Peyser, and some of CoffeeKids' top donors, including a fellow from Kerry Food Group, which donates about $125,000-$150,000 a year and is their highest donor. I didn't catch the fellow's name, but he put out a challenge to other companies (cough cough Starbucks) to up their donation game and get just as serious as "an Irish company doing things from across the sea" with regards to supporting CoffeeKids. I couldn't agree more.

Here's some photos from the event.

Bill Fishbein Bill listens attentively as one of the Producer Nation Partners speaks about CoffeeKids' impact in Guatemala.

The Crowd This was taken late in the evening - earlier on, the place was even more packed.