What started off as a creative way to raise money for adopting a child quickly turned into a movement involving an entire community in downtown Phoenix.
Earlier this year, Jake and Rachel McDonald started giving out coffee from their home and accepting donations to help the couple pay the fees associated with adopting a child. The open coffee houses began every other week, but now the McDonalds host “Adopted Coffee” every Saturday.
“Adopted Coffee basically spawned out of our family’s need to tangibly fundraise for our own adoption,” said Jake McDonald, director of sales and development for a string of coffee shops. “Originally we had an idea to have a community coffee morning that was centered around friends and family, and then the idea just sort of spawned further because of the traction we were getting on social media.”
Soon after their first open coffee house on March 14, people from all over the community started showing up to buy coffee at their residence in the Roosevelt neighborhood. The events got so big that McDonald said the vision shifted away from just their own adoption, to how they could also help others.
“Instead of just having this small fundraiser for our family, it became something that we wanted to carry on to other local family adoptions too,” McDonald said.
The cost of adoptions can be very taxing on a family, McDonald said. Adoption fees include getting an attorney, finding an agency, paying hospital bills, and paying travel costs if the adoption isn’t domestic. The McDonalds said they are anticipating up to $40,000 in bills from their adoption.
“The hope is it won’t cost $40,000, there is a great chance that you have an adoption process go through and it costs $25,000,” McDonald said. “In that case, it’s a great day, that’s more money we can give back to local families who are going through this as well.”
They have raised close to $8,000 through Adopted Coffee and have personally raised $4,000. Combined with their GoFundMe account, the McDonalds have raised almost $15,000.
Adopted Coffee has also helped bring the community together around a cause. Many residents who come out to get coffee end up meeting neighbors they had never met before.
“I’m a mother of an adopted child, and I love this neighborhood. It’s so awesome, we’re getting to know our neighbors, and we’re helping a cause. I love the idea of us all paying it forward,” said Sharon Rieger, a neighbor one block down from the McDonalds.
“It’s one of the best ways to get people around the table, work towards a good cause through quality food and coffee,” said Emily Macraine, a family friend of the McDonalds and volunteer at Adopted Coffee.
Not only are neighbors coming together to support Adopted Coffee; businesses have been coming together to support and donate to the cause.
“We like to get other businesses involved that we like, so we’ve been able to work with coffee roasters here in Arizona, a few businesses have approached us after seeing are stuff on Instagram,” McDonald said.
“This week the coffee was donated by Mr. Espresso, so we have zero costs for coffee this week,” McDonald said.
Besides coffee, a local dairy in Laveen called Danzeisen Dairy has decided to provide all dairy for the cooking aspect of Adopted Coffee for as long as they are needed.
As Adopted Coffee has continued to grow, the McDonalds are hoping to expand into a brick-and-mortar setting.
“If we can get to a tangible brick-and-mortar space and run it seven days a week, get to a point of profitability, and be able to say we give back 50 percent of our profits every year right into foster and adoption right here in Phoenix, that’s something incredible no one else is doing,” McDonald said.
The open house coffee days are every Saturday at the McDonalds’ house at 84 W. Willetta Street. You can follow their story on their website.
Contact the reporter at Jzbuntin@asu.edu.
