When you buy a bag of beans from Commitment Coffee, you’re getting a lot more than just a delicious cup of coffee for your morning caffeine. You are helping provide scholarships to children and spouses of fallen heroes as well as those who are severely disabled as a result of their military service.

That’s because 50% of all net profits from Commitment Coffee are given directly to a highly rated charitable organization called Folds of Honor. You read that right, not 5% but 50%!

For founder Brian Lester, it’s a mission that is quite personal – all because of a single date: Jan. 9, 2002. Brian, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and 6-year veteran of the service, was about two years removed from active duty. But in the mountains of southwest Pakistan, it’s the day on which one of his Navy classmates and best friends, Capt. Matthew “Burney” Bancroft was killed along with six others, piloting a KC-130 tanker aircraft in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. It was the deadliest day until that point in the fight against terrorism, less than four months removed from the 9/11 attacks.

Burney had just become a father a few months before his death, his wife giving birth to a baby girl. For the next 18 years, Brian and other friends chipped in for her college fund.

While that commitment was completed recently, it only seemed natural when Brian launched a coffee company to start a new commitment – this one aimed at a similar need but now for complete strangers. He calls it “Specialty Coffee. Noble Mission.” In other words, great coffee with a greater cause.

By partnering with Market Wagon, Brian hopes to reach a much wider audience across the greater St. Louis region. Market Wagon delivers on Tuesdays to every home in a 9-county area of Missouri and Illinois, plus the city of St. Louis.

Brian imports his coffee beans from all around the world, from the leading coffee-growing regions in Asia, Africa and Central and South America. His importer purchases ready-to-roast beans directly from coffee estate owners and farmers. He partners with a pioneer in the gourmet coffee industry who has decades of experience blending the art and science of coffee roasting so that he can offer a variety of roast levels. When it comes to packaging, each bag of roasted beans has the air removed with a blast of nitrogen, then is heat sealed to ensure the beans have optimum freshness, aroma and flavor.

Commitment Coffee offers a variety of coffee for sale on the Market Wagon platform. It should come as no surprise, Brian always recommends “Burney’s Blend,” a medium roast named in honor of his friend.

So as the nation prepares to honor all our country’s veterans in a few days, commit yourself to trying Commitment Coffee, supporting Navy veteran Brian Lester, funding the education needs for the children of our country’s heroes and honoring the memory of Capt. Matthew “Burney” Bancroft at the same time.

The Market Wagon team wants to honor all veterans who have partnered with us in each of our locations.

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