Don Danilo Paz has been working in coffee cultivation since he was a small child.  His father, long ago, was one of the largest coffee producers in  Honduras.  Early on, Danilo learned the value of hard work which ultimately yielded harvests of  very special premium coffee beans.  He then roasted those same beans using secrets honored by his family's long held traditions to pour out a cup of coffee that is difficult to reproduce using even the most modern of technologies.  At times, it almost seems as if coffee flows through Danilo's veins!  However, with recent changes in coffee production throughout the world provoking flooded markets and low prices, Don Danilo's livelihood has been pushed to the brink.  Without direct access to a foreign market, he has been forced to sell his premium beans to a middle man or export house which then mixes Danilo's quality beans with other second class coffees.  The low price paid at the export house barely covers the cost of coffee field maintenance and the minimum wages earned by the field workers.  This once dignified way of life now teeters on poverty.

This is Mauricio Paz, Don Danilo's son. Just as his father was raised among the colorful deep reds and greens of the coffee finca, so too has Mauricio found life in the traditions of his ancestors. He is the third generation to work the soil to produce this high quality coffee. Now that Don Danilo is older and unable to do the massive physical work required to maintain the coffee fields and tend to the harvested beans, Mauricio has taken the reins of the family business to assure that his family's way of life does not disappear. Mauricio has often commented about his love for the coffee business. He has studied much regarding coffee cultivation as well as coffee roasting. Mauricio can proudly say that he has been able to integrate the vast knowledge base of his grandfather and father with current knowledge regarding roasting techniques to produce a final product that would surely make his grandfather smile. Mauricio personally oversees the green coffee bean selections and roasting to assure that the Green Parrot Coffee product which reaches the hands of the consumer is of strictest industry standards and highest quality.

My name is Lisa Armstrong. I am a registered nurse and missionary to Fellow Man International and the poor of Honduras. I owe a debt of gratitude to Don Danilo and Mauricio that I will never be able to repay. They have provided friendship and warmth of home to me as I struggle through the difficulties of living in a strange land far from home. As I have come to know this very special family, I have been better able to understand the circumstances of poverty under whose oppression the people I serve, live. Nearly all of the clients of the Fellow Man clinic are coffee field workers. Low coffee prices have forced local producers to pay less than living wages to their workers in order for the coffee farms to survive. Green Parrot Coffee was created with some very specific goals in mind: to achieve self-sufficiency for the Fellow Man International medical clinic and agriculture project, to provide direct access to the U.S. coffee market by paying fair green coffee prices directly to the Paz family and other local producers who are committed to providing living wages to their field workers with eventual profit sharing and finally to encourage economic development of the mission's service area, eliminating the need for child labor and encouraging education. It is my charge to ensure that we of Green Parrot coffee never forget the real purpose of this labor of love, to bring hope and promise through fair trade and living wages to those of this mountain who are in need.

Rene and Teresa Suazo are no strangers to the plight of the poor of Honduras. Rene was born and raised in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. He attended Kansas State University where he met his wife Teresa. Shortly after their marriage in 1990, Rene and Teresa moved to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. However, after two short years, they made the very difficult decision to move back to the United States. They recognized the future of their two children was at stake. Not wishing to expose their children to the violence and insecurity Honduras posed at that time, they chose to make their final home in Ft. Collins, Colorado where their two sons Lucas and Zac could attend a bilingual grade school integrating the best of each of their parent's two cultures. Rene and Teresa agree regarding their part in the distribution of Green Parrot Coffee. It is a family affair born out of a desire to help.