FE & Mocha Club (the back story)

While writing songs for The Cycle We’re Living In I think we all got the sense we wanted to see change happen through not only our music, but through efforts that we made off stage as well. We’ve had several opportunities to help support friends of ours who were making efforts to change some part of the world, but we all agreed that it was time for us to start walking what our songs were talking about.

So about a month ago a friend of ours introduced us to the Mocha Club team. After getting to sit on the floor of their new offices and hear them talk about some of the things they were doing we felt like they were exactly the kind of organization we were hoping to partner with. Some things that impressed us…

It’s about community first, money second
Mocha Club isn’t just about individuals sending money into a big organization where they hope that the money is being spent well. Instead, it starts with building a team of people around a defined cause (in our case, orphan care). The ability to get our fans involved in a project where we make a difference collectively instead of as individuals feels like a big win for us.

It’s too easy not to get involved
One thing that Mocha Club understands is how to make it dead simple for people to get the concept of giving. I mean seriously, trade two mochas a month in order to give a person food for a whole month? Um, where do I sign?

I need Africa more than Africa needs me
This last point kind of seals the deal as far as I’m concerned.

It’s easy to grow up seeing pictures of people starving in Africa and think to yourself that the task of helping Africa out of poverty is too big for me to make any real difference. The problem with that mindset is that we neglect the fact that Africa can have as big (if not bigger) an impact on us as we can have on Africa.

You see, we live in a country where we think money can buy happiness, but in reality I sense that many of us with lots of extra stuff are still very unhappy. Giving up those 2 mochas a month (or whatever) allows me a chance to remember that my circumstances shouldn’t define my happiness, but instead it should come from the contentment in my heart when I understand that everything I have is a gift that is to be shared for the betterment of the world, not just me.

Join us on this journey and the nice people at Mocha Club will send you an “I Need Africa” t-shirt as a great reminder that we are not just people in need of different circumstances, but people with the ability to love and to hope regardless of where we find ourselves.