When Rachel and Jake McDonald opened Adopted Coffee, they expected it to be a small event between friends and family to quickly help them raise money for adoption fees. They never foresaw its growth into a community-wide event that would bring together 80 to 90 people on Saturday mornings.
“It’s completely not what we expected,” Rachel McDonald said. “It’s been amazing. We thought when we started it would just be friends and family. It’s been incredible, the support we’ve had from the community.”
The family is expecting its adoption fees to be as high as $40,000, but hope that costs will be lower than projected — hopefully closer to $25,000 — so that excess funds can help another family trying to adopt.
With the support of friends, families, neighbors and community members, the McDonalds are now only $5,000 away from their fundraising goal. They hope to reach the goal by the end of this month or during March.
When it first began on March 14 of last year, Adopted Coffee was only open every other Saturday. Now, Jake McDonald serves up a variety of coffees including drip, cold brews, lattes and mochas. They have different coffees each week, often donated, as well as donated milk, doughnuts, loose leaf tea and hot chocolate.
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The McDonalds brew the drinks using equipment the family has collected over the years, and they make most of their flavored syrups at home. Outside of their coffee efforts, the McDonalds run a catering business and a GoFundMe account to help raise money.
The couple eventually hopes to open a brick-and-mortar-style coffee shop that would raise funds for foster care. According to Rachel McDonald, they haven’t found the right location just yet.
Jake McDonald said while he’s happy for the fundraising, he’s also happy about conversation in they have helped establish in the community.
“People are meeting each other, becoming friends and becoming more interested in what’s going on in the foster care and adoption communities,” he said.
Rachel McDonald said they often see the same faces, and have now made friends with many of the loyal customers.
“We have a lot of regulars, which is really cool because people we’d never met before Adopted Coffee are really invested in our story,” she said.
Matthew Bennett, a regular customer at Adopted Coffee, said he first heard about the cause when he met Jake McDonald at Gilbert cafe Liberty Market, where McDonald worked as a barista.
“Arizona has lots of kids in the foster care system who need good homes, and it’s good to promote adoption in general,” Bennett said.
Bennett lives in Chandler, but the distance doesn’t stop him from driving out nearly every Saturday.
“It’s a bit of a trek, but it’s a great cause and great coffee,” he said.
The McDonalds are hopeful they will be able to adopt soon.
“We’re actively presenting two cases, so hopefully we will be placed with a family sometime soon,” she said.
Adopted Coffee can be found at 84 West Willetta Street in Phoenix on Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. The event will be on break over the next few weeks.
Contact the reporter at Kara.Carlson@asu.edu
