Coffee
Cause WRITTEN BY MICHAEL BURTON
Chip Furr is a seemingly quiet
charlotte lifestyle july/august
6
man; he is a self-proclaimed
rebel and non-conformist; he
moves slowly and deliberately, with
rounded shoulders forward as though
there is a thickness to the air. Chip
Furr is a preacher that doesn’t shout
from the mountain tops, he has no
medium for broadcast, but when he
speaks his words come out in punches.
He moves through the ether with the
music of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd
running through his spine, a passion
for changing the lives of those in need
in his heart…….and coffee in his blood.
His expression is as undesigned as a
Jimmy Page solo over Whole-Lotta-
Love, and his purpose vibrates like a
needle on vinyl as Climb’s Roast Coffee
takes its fight to save the victims of
human trafficking here in Charlotte.
As I was and as you may be, Chip
Furr was shocked when he found
out that Charlotte was the 5th most
trafficked city in the nation. He began
attending roundtable discussions
designed to address the problem;
over time he knew he had to get
involved. Chip and his wife Cheery
who first met in 1977 at a Baptist Youth
World Conference in the Philippines
were already coffee roasting experts.
They studied together at a school in
Sonoma, California and decided to put
their unique skill and understanding
of roasting, profiling, blending and
cupping techniques into fighting this
growing problem here in Charlotte.
In the past Chip and Cheery
used their coffee roasting talent
to raise money for churches and
their missions. It was the perfect
conversation starter and gave them
entrée to an environment they may not
have otherwise experienced. In 2010
they began selling coffee under the
non-profit brand Climb’s Roast. They
believed that selling a product for a
cause was the perfect way to create a
self-sustaining type of funding. They
also believed the world of coffee and
the culinary aspects associated with it
could be a teachable skill to those in
need.
“There are three components to
saving a victim of human trafficking”
Chip explains. “It starts with locating
and rescuing the victim.” This process
may take months of planning but the
people involved take this seriously
and work with complete anonymity
and discretion. Once a victim is
rescued the next part is placement.
In many cases rescued victims are
sought after by their former abusers,
so finding a safe place to locate the
victim is paramount. There is often
with a
Photo by M. Todd