SHELBURNE — Shelburne Falls Coffee Roasters is donating all profits from sales of its Rainbow Roast coffee this week to support the victims of the Orlando shooting.
According to General Manager Annabelle Lytle-Rich, the money will be donated to Equality Florida, the state’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, which is collecting contributions through a GoFundMe campaign to support victims of the Pulse Nightclub shooting. According to the campaign, it will benefit victims’ families, survivors and those in the club who may not have been physically harmed but are still in need of support.
“Obviously we were, as the rest of the nation was, so horrified and disturbed by the events that happened on Sunday and we immediately started thinking Monday morning about what we could do to show our support to the LGBTQ community and the people who work at our store who identify with the LGBTQ community,” Lytle-Rich said.
The Rainbow Roast naturally lent itself to the idea, she said, and the company has done promotions with it in the past in support of the LGBTQ community.
“The outpouring (of support) has been huge, so we’re trying our best to keep it in stock and we’re running this until Sunday,” she said. “We’ve had people ordering the coffee from all over the country.”
On Thursday, Lytle-Rich said the company had generated $1,300 in profits from the roast since Monday.
The benefit is happening in all six stores and online at shelburnefallscoffee.com.