I went to Axium Coffee (146 W. Plant St Winter Garden,
FL 34787)
to sketch and sip. This used to be a place that artist Larry Lauria like
to hang out and sketch. After leaving Full Sail University, I was shocked to find out
that Larry had died. I came to his old haunt to sketch in his honor. I was also
working on a book about sketching in cafes so I was exploring all the best
local cafes to try their best coffee and soak up their ambiance as I sketched.
Axium Coffee was founded in 2005.
They envisioned a gathering place for the community. It is not just about the coffee, tea,
smoothies, pastries, and desserts, but also about coming together around a
cause. It is a place about giving
instead of taking, about helping those in need: locally, nationally and
internationally. Here guests are not just numbers, but people with stories to
tell. They wanted to find a way to
tangibly touch the lives of people in need: orphans, human trafficking victims,
the poverty-stricken, those without potable water, while creating a place that
unites the local community. So, they
decided to give all the profit away in hopes of changing the world…one cup of
coffee at a time.
The name was born out of this dream. Axium is a city in Ethiopia. In Axum,
there are 45,000 people. The is no fresh
water, inadequate medical care, 1000 orphans on the streets and 1000 beggars
who are old, blind or physically impaired in some way. Most people walk over 5 miles each day to
collect water from a reservoir that then needs to be boiled to be relatively
safe. Over the next 10 years, with the
right funding and committed people they can bring fresh water to the city,
enhance medical care, sponsor orphans back into homes of relatives or friends
and help care for the old, the poor, and the blind. The hope is to bring total transformation to
the city and the impact could be felt for generations to come. Hopefully in 10 years this will be this
café’s story. The goal is to change lives one city at a time!
I didn’t know about Axium’s mission s I sketched, but I am
happy that choosing to sketch there helped their mission in a small way.