Cups of Coffee for a Better Community (VIDEO)

Marta Vidal always wanted to be a teacher. Her parents could show her childhood posters where she had written “a teacher” under the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” She followed in her mother’s footsteps and fulfilled that dream, teaching in Colombia for seven years before moving to the United States in 1996.

“It was my first passion,” she says. “And it was all about community.”

Vital’s mother taught for 47 years in the rural area near El Hato, Colombia. She remembers when her mother started teaching, no electricity or running water existed. She watched her mother work to create the community and school the children deserved.

“At the end of the 10 years, it was like going to a different school,” she recalls. “The community had running water, electricity and gardens. It was my main inspiration to see her working so hard to get something for the community.”

When Vidal came to the U.S., she realized it was easier to get her teaching certification by completing a master’s degree program. She received her master’s in teaching from Illinois State University. She spent the next 18 years teaching Spanish in Peoria.

She never imagined she’d leave such a fulfilling career, but much to her surprise, there are parallels to teaching in the public school system and owning a coffee tree farm in El Hato and storefront in Peoria.

Vidal and her husband, Heber, purchased the 25-acre Santa Rosa Farm, with 60,000 coffee trees, in 2014.

“We bought the farm because we wanted our own little space when we visited home,” she says.

They planned to build a home on the land, but after seeing the poverty of the community, decided they wanted to use the farm to make a difference. They quickly learned coffee trees could support a business, and in turn, help provide for others.

Santa Rosa Farm currently supports 25 families, mostly single mothers. To accommodate schedules and household needs, Vidal says the workers can choose the hours they work during the day.

It’s helping the farm’s workers and surrounding community that makes agriculture Vidal’s second passion.

Vidal says Heber was instrumental in helping with the transition to running the farm business. Although his background is in teaching and electrical engineering, he now serves as head roaster and frequently travels to the farm in Colombia. Vidal has found her niche running the cafe in Peoria, which opened in July 2020. She enjoys watching the faces of her customers as they take their first sips of coffee and tea, and every day provides moments that remind her this is what she’s supposed to be doing.

The Vidals host an annual health clinic near the farm. At the most recent event, 80 individuals ages 2 to 84 had the opportunity to meet with doctors, dentists, hygienists and a chiropractor.

“Five-year-olds were like, ‘what is this?’,” when handed a toothbrush at one of the first clinics, Vidal recalls. “Now, those same children have perfect teeth – no cavities.”

See more: Farm-to-School Partnerships Make a Nutritional Difference for Illinois Children (VIDEO)

Vidal also works to provide every worker with a washing machine.

“All these moms, they harvest all day long by hand. Then at the end of the day, they have to go back home and do the cooking, cleaning and laundry. And the laundry is by hand,” she says.

She may not be teaching in a high school now, but she’s teaching in different ways, “like how to supplement their nutrition, how to garden and this year, we are doing a craft project.” Vidal hired a person to teach the female harvesters to create greeting cards. Vidal plans to sell them around the holidays to provide another source of income for the farm’s workers.

The classes have also provided a relaxed space for the participants.

“We have seen that they go to the class and 10 minutes after the classes started, they are laughing and enjoying and cheering,” she says.

They also play podcasts about nutrition and self-love.

“It doesn’t mean you’re a bad mom, just because you say, ‘I’m going to do this for me,’” she says. “You don’t have to be working 24/7.”

Vidal, a mother of three, hopes she provides opportunities for these women to be self-sufficient, grow and instill that in their children.

“I think that’s what inspires me the most,” she says.

Visit Cafe Santa Rosa at the Betty Jayne Brimmer Center for the Performing Arts, 327 E. Kelly Ave., Peoria Heights. To find out more, visit cafesantarosa.co/home.

See more: Farm to Food Bank Program Nourishes Illinois Residents, Communities and Farms

This content is part of the Partners 2023 Cultivating Our Communities series, a collaboration among Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, Illinois Farm Bureau and the Illinois Specialty Growers Association. It strives to raise awareness of Illinois’ diverse farmers, farms, and the food, animal feed and fuel they produce.