ORANGE — It would seem $10,000 was only the beginning of Dean Cycon’s donations to support school food programs that are feeding children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cycon, founder and CEO of Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee Co., has donated another $26,000, according to a press release from the company. The donations include $5,000 to Springfield Public Schools, $5,000 to the Greenfield School Department, $4,000 to the Athol-Royalston Regional School District, $4,000 to the Gill-Montague Regional School District, $3,500 to Orange elementary schools, $2,500 to Ralph C. Mahar Regional School and $2,000 to the Amherst-Pelham Regional School District.
Contributions were based on the number of students the district feeds each day, and follow an initial $10,000 that the company donated in April.
“Making sure children have access to food throughout this pandemic is crucial, and we are proud to support these essential programs,” Cycon explained. “The success of a business should be about more than the sum of dollars kept. Part of a company’s profitability is the positivity it generates for others, and we are committed to helping our communities ease the pain of this crisis.”
According to the release, Dean’s Beans is continuing outreach to other local school districts in hopes of increasing its impact on child hunger.
The company has also launched a “Thousand Pounds of Light” campaign to donate a 1,000 pounds of coffee to people on the front lines, and those whose jobs and livelihoods have been negatively affected by the pandemic. Dean’s Beans also continues to supply food banks, survival centers and other organizations with free coffee.
Additionally, the company has donated 33,500 coffee tin ties to people making face masks, as well as to small businesses in 12 states who are using the tins ties to secure face masks that are distributed to front-line workers and first responders.