c. 1998 Religion News Service

ALAJUELITA, Costa Rica _ Cuco is a child nobody wanted. The little boy wanders the streets of Alajuelita, a slum west of Costa Rica’s capital, San Jose. Crack addicts and gangs roam Cuco’s neighborhood, where his mother, a prostitute, sells drugs. The toddler is on his own to survive.

A benevolent neighbor provided Cuco’s one daily meal until six months ago, when a friend brought him to Hogar Zoe, a Christian drug rehabilitation center. As best it can on scarce resources, the center also feeds the neighborhood’s hungry children.

Two years ago, Chris Dearnley, pastor of the Vineyard of Escazu church asked Zoe’s director, Carlos Cordoba, how Dearnley’s church could support the program. Cordoba responded simply,”Help us reach the children.” Hogar Zoe (House of Life) serves meals to neighborhood youth every other day, so the Vineyard of Escazu took charge of the kitchen every other Saturday and added Bible-centered activities.

But soon, Dearnley came to understand what Zoe’s director Carlos Cordoba already recognized: It will take more than an occasional pot of beans and rice to keep these children from perishing on the streets of San Jose. The problem Dearnley wrestled with was how to assure steady funding for Zoe so it could expand programs for greater impact on young lives.

Dearnley, whose background includes a Harvard MBA, carried the question to California in July 1997, where he visited with university friends:”We were sitting around discussing our financial need and situation, and I said, `Hey, I brought you some coffee from Costa Rica.'” At that moment, Dearnley envisioned a coffee export company, with the profits financing social outreach.”We looked at each other and said, `Hey, why don’t we do this?'” Now, Pura Vida Coffee Company (http://www.puravidacoffee.com; 1-888-577-4JOY) supports Pura Vida Ministries, established to finance not only Hogar Zoe, but other ministries in Central America as well. Its name comes from a Costa Rican colloquialism, figuratively meaning”great, terrific,”but literally meaning”pure life.””We believe this coffee is about pure life: offering the life of Christ to people who are struggling,”Dearnley said.

John Sage, Dearnley’s Harvard housemate who attended that California meeting, is also a founding member of Pura Vida Coffee Company. Sage had created Starbucks’ Red Ribbon Sampler coffee/music gift package that generates funds for AIDS research. Sage, whose brother died of the disease five years ago, said that the Starbucks project should raise at least $40,000 this fall for AIDS organizations around the country.

Pura Vida Coffee began operations in January with no advertising budget; instead, it relies on word of mouth to spread news of the product. He said his vision is that Christians and churches will buy Pura Vida for their inhouse use or as gifts.

While interest and sales have been strong, so far the profits have been reinvested in more coffee, Dearnley said. But Sage believes that for Pura Vida Coffee, which features the world-renowned premium variety Tarraz, profits could approach $40,000 its first year.

Todd Hunter, national director of the Anaheim, Calif.-based Association of Vineyard Churches – USA, lauds Dearnley’s approach to ministry fund-raising as”spiritual entrepreneurship.””I would encourage it if it became a trend,”Hunter said.

On a recent Saturday morning at Hogar Zoe, Vineyard of Escazu members scattered through the neighborhood to gather children for the day’s program. Meanwhile, two young men enrolled in Zoe’s 15-month drug rehabilitation bustled around a dark kitchen, chopping vegetables and boiling cauldrons of water for rice in preparation for the interns’ lunch.

Allan, 24, is head cook. He joined a street gang and at 11 committed his first robbery. His mother, a drug dealer, would pay him four grams of cocaine for babysitting his two brothers. Crack was Allan’s drug of choice but he often drank rubbing alcohol as a cheap, but potentially fatal, alternative.

Eleven months ago, following a drug deal that turned violent, an old friend from the streets who had become a Christian brought Allan to the center.

Cordoba, a one-time addict himself, interviews all candidates and rejects the applications of those he believes are simply seeking food and shelter rather than a drug-free life.

He said that of the 60 percent accepted, almost all graduate. The program includes intense prayer and Bible study, group worship, counseling, and learning a trade, such as carpentry, welding, or greenhouse gardening. Participants receive housing, medical attention, and three meals a day. Its success has prompted Costa Rican courts to send convicted addicts to Hogar Zoe as an alternative to prison.”Every day is a fight, but I feel at peace,”Allan said.”God comes first. Nothing else interests me. I want to stay here and help others.” Allan is a portrait of what young Cuco could become without intervention. Six months ago, Cuco was violent and aggressive toward others, often hitting and kicking, wholly unafraid of reprisals.”He was the angriest child I’ve ever seen,”said Hans Wust, Vineyard’s worship leader who helps with the children’s program.

Near the food serving area, the little boy glared at Dearnley, who began to play a hand game with him. But within minutes, Cuco’s countenance softened, then he touched Dearnley’s hand and smiled. Without this program, Wust said,”I can’t imagine what he could turn into.” Sometimes as many as 200 children ages 3 to 13 gather Saturdays for lunch and fun but meaningful Bible-focused activities. Almost all of the children suffer from parental neglect, abuse or exposure to the hostile streets of Alajuelita.”Through our Saturday program, Cuco has learned about the love of Jesus and that some adults care enough to spend time with him,”Dearnley said.

But until coffee sales begin perking up, a weedy lot adjacent to the back fence is a poignant reminder that many others could be reached.

Dearnley and Cordoba envision constructing a community center and gymnasium to expand the neighborhood ministry and serve more meals. They hope to expand an existing clothing distribution program and launch”medical Saturdays”for the children.

Hogar Zoe receives some money from Costa Rica’s Evangelical Alliance and individual churches, such as the Vineyard of Escazu. Until Pura Vida turns more profit, however, Hogar Zoe is mostly self-supporting through interns’ carpentry, painting, and plumbing, Cordoba said. “I believe they can be rescued,”Cordoba said of the youngest children.”But if we had more resources, we’d be able to reach more of them.” Dearnley said that one Saturday before Easter, the children sealed in his heart the purpose of Pura Vida.”I asked the kids, `Who is the central figure of Easter?'””Judas!”they shouted in unison. Dearnley was astonished.”He’s the one who got the money, deceived and stole,”Dearnley said.”Their lives are about Judas, and we want to make their lives about Jesus.” DEA END ALFORD