Greenheart Staff in Action – Kyle Trebotich

Kyle is Greenheart Travel’s Director. Greenheart Travel sends English speakers abroad on cultural immersion programs that change lives, advance careers and create leaders through volunteer service. 

I started volunteering with Café Chicago back in 2013. For me, I was a bit of a coffee geek back then. The Coffee and Tea Exchange in Lakeview was my candy store. I’d like to try different brands, different ways of brewing, even tried roasting my own beans in a popcorn popper once. Didn’t turn out too well and I basically ended up smoking my apartment up to the point where it smelled like burnt coffee for 6 weeks.

Anyway, I was looking for an opportunity to learn a bit more about it. Checking out local roasters like Dark Matter, etc. But ended up stumbling upon Café Chicago’s fair trade, organic stuff at Harvest Time Foods (solid grocery store up on Lawrence). I bought a pack, brewed it up in my French press and looked them up online. I found out that they were actually a part of the Latino Union of Chicago – an organization that supports Latino day laborers with legal help, English lessons, job training, contract referrals, etc. Seeing as how I spent some time living in Mexico, I figured I’d ask them if they had any space to volunteer. Would help me keep up my Spanish, after all.

I called them up and they invited me to their office where they explained that one of the reasons they sell this coffee was to supplement income for the organization during the winter as a lot of labor work was seasonal. They needed someone who spoke good English to set up little tables at various grocery stores, tell the story, give out free samples, and sell bags. It was fun work. We usually set up on Sunday mornings where people were buying food to cook for breakfast. “You’re going to need coffee with them eggs!” Was usually my best hook line. Haha.

Albany Park is a bit of a hike and I stopped volunteering with them when I moved to Pilsen, but kept buying their coffee from time to time, and I was glad that Jude was able to get it regularly for our offices. I’m really sad to hear that the Latino Union is no longer making Café Chicago. Not sure why, but maybe it’s no longer profitable or just distracting from their main mission now.

I had a great time working with these guys when I was there. Their stories about how they used to have to hustle for work outside of Home Depot before the union came along really put quite a lot into perspective for me. I wish them the best!