our story

Callie's Coffee was inspired by seven year old Callie Lentz's desire to help cure pediatric cancer. Callie's young friend, Ben Towne, died at the age of 3 1/2 from an incurable form of neuroblastoma. Callie and Ben were friends for all of Ben's short life, and Callie witnessed Ben's year and a half ferocious struggle from start to finish and at close distance. The experience of having observed the inexplicable created in Callie a deep seated desire to find a way to help prevent other children from having to suffer the way Ben and his family did. At age 6, Callie asked her parents to donate the contents of her piggy bank to Ben's foundation, and at age 7 she came up with the idea of selling coffee to further the foundation's cause.

From Callie's inspiration, the Lentz family launched into full production. With the assistance of friends, who contributed their ideas, skills and support, Callie, her brothers Robbie and Nick and her parents Mollie and Ryan created a "cottage industry" in the Lentz family garage. There, all family members labeled, packaged and delivered the first shipments of Callie's Coffee. Each bag of organically grown coffee specially roasted by Camano Island Coffee contains one of "Ben's" brews and bears on its label art work created by a pediatric cancer patient or survivor. Callie's Coffee donates proceeds from the sale of its coffee to Ben Towne Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation. Ben Towne Foundation is unique in that all costs are fully supported – so 100% of donations go directly towards innovative research at the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research.