Today we’d like to introduce you to Kempton Urban.
Hi Kempton, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
During my 20 years as a police officer, community members or organizations would often stop by the police station unrelated to needing official business. They would bring treats, food or drinks and often just leave a note thanking us for what we did. Sometimes, there would be too many treats, or not enough. Sometimes if they brought food, it spoiled because officers did not know they were coming and ate just prior. Sometimes, we would receive whole bean coffee. Which is great, but in a fast paced environment, there is no time to grind and brew.
After I retired, with the assistance of my wife who had just become a nurse, we started Caffeinated Heroes. Simple yet effective, we take community donations, purchase brewed coffee from local coffee shops and deliver it to first responders and health care workers. We try to make advanced arrangements so they know we are coming. This allows us to bring the correct amount, at the correct times. The program is funded by community donations; by people who want to thank heroes. The thanks is from them, but we do all the work.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Establishment of a nonprofit is fairly simple but takes a long time and can be intimidating if you have no business experience. Fortunately, my Board of Directors is comprised of an extremely successful group who bring a wealth of knowledge. They are super supportive and keep pushing this to be the best it can with their past experiences.
The main struggle is social media. Unfortunately social media is how we spread the word and show what we do. Most of the heroes we serve do not want to be featured. Some are ok with pictures, but asking for photos or videos receives a lot of pushback. As a former police officer, I identify with the need to remain in the background. It was uncommon to see positive photos uplifting our profession and we were taught to be tough and not smile. A lot of recipients of the coffee we bring are hesitant to even engage with what is going on. If there is a exit, they find it. But we have found if we can just talk to them, have a positive conversation, explain what CH is, who and why the coffee is from, and break down the barrier, they always end up smiling and are super appreciative. Sometimes, on our way out the door, the ones who slipped out the exit will find us and say thanks… but still no pictures.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
What am I most proud of? The response from the community. This is a nonprofit, we do not make money. Every dollar we receive from the merchandise, coffee sales and donations goes directly back into the program. The local coffee shops are amazing and give us discounts on the coffee we buy. This helps us extend our money to serve more heroes. We don’t ask for discounts, they self provide it because they are excited to be apart of this. When people ask me about Caffeinated Heroes, they always end with, thats amazing. It is cool to see the community respond so positively and rally to thank first responders and healthcare heroes.
The one thing I set up which is super cool is our Donation Subscription. Once you sign up on our website, you make automatic monthly payments of $20 which equals $240 a year in total donations. This known revenue helps us better plan for events as we have a understanding of a consistent operating budget instead of relying on random one time donations. The perk of being a subscriber is that quarterly, we ship you a bag of Caffeinated Heroes Coffee for you to enjoy. The coffee is roasted for us by our friends at BD Provisions, located in Severna Park, Md. The coffee comes whole bean, fresh roasted in house and of superior quality. The feedback I receive is amazing and you can sign up here: https://www.caffeinatedheroes.org/subscriptions
The main thing to get from Caffeinated Heroes is that it is a full circle nonprofit designed to involve every facet of our communities. The donations come from citizens who can use it as a tax deduction and feel good about spending their money. We spend that money for our events at local business which always need support. And the first responders get a simple gesture of thanks, which we make sure they understand came from the citizen, not us. This improves the relationship between everyone and helps build stronger, safer communities.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
The internet lol. There are amazing resources for nonprofits online, generally provided by and run by nonprofits. There are nonprofits that run nonprofits and nonprofits that fund nonprofits. Its a crazy web of everyone trying to help each other. Shout out to MarylandNonprofits.org
When they had those fires out in LA last year, we ran a t-shirt promotion just for a nonprofit that helps fund the LA Fire Department. They have a billion followers and posted about us. It was cool to be apart of that community, donating money to them from our community.
Pricing:
- $20 – Monthly Donations for our Coffee Subscription. Helps us manage revenue flow and you get fresh coffee 2x a year!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://CaffeinatedHeroes.org
- Instagram: caffeinatedheroes
