News
Change is Brewing
Summer 2021
SJ Brew embraces the Jesuit ideal of with and for others. "SJ also can serve as an acronym for social justice or Society of Jesus," says Claire Fitzgerald ’21, student CEO.
SJ Brew, a student-run coffee program at Saint Joseph’s, welcomed its first shipments in February. Under the direction of Student CEO Claire Fitzgerald ’21, the brand sells organic, fair-trade coffee that is “brewed with purpose.”
Fitzgerald joined the program after her sophomore year study tour in Costa Rica.
“We got to talk to coffee farmers and fair-trade producers,” she says. “It’s different being able to see the process in person, and really see all the complicated steps that come into making a simple cup of coffee.”
SJ Brew sells coffee produced by Café Femenino, which is committed to ending the cycle of poverty affecting female coffee farmers around the globe. The coffee cooperative directly compensates the farmers and provides them with opportunities and resources to incite positive change in their communities.
The coffee initiative was the brainchild of alumnus Richard Viebrock ’15 and is now being carried out by Fitzgerald and several other students, including Sophia Dell’Arciprete ’22, who designs flyers and website content, and Rylan Domingues ’22, who focuses on operations. They work under the direction of Associate Professor of Sociology Keith Brown, Ph.D.
Proceeds from the SJ Brew sales go toward the Charles F. Shreiner ’50 Scholarship for Study in Latin America.