COLUMBUS, OHIO – MAY 21, 2018 – Columbus nonprofit See Kids Dream awarded its 2018 Inspired Leader Award to Melissa Rogner, vice president of marketing for coffee roaster Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea. She received the award May 3 at the organization’s annual Inspire Us gala at Villa Milano.
“See Kids Dream is an incredible organization committed to creating future leaders,” Rogner said. “Leading new opportunities to support their efforts aligned perfectly with our company goals of giving back. It was just the right thing to do for myself and the Crimson Cup team.”
Rogner has provided volunteer support since she began with Crimson Cup in 2012. She currently serves as a member of the See Kids Dream marketing committee created in 2017.
“Melissa is one of the most inspired leaders I’ve had the privilege to work with,” said See Kids Dream Co-founder and Executive Director Laura Grindle. “When we have a need, she never lets us down. She gets to work and finds innovative solutions.”
When See Kids Dream was ready to launch Project Dream, a new program that enables volunteers to fill the “service learning coach” role typically filled by a school staff person, Rogner stepped up to organize a group of volunteers from Crimson Cup. For the 2017-2018 school year, the Crimson Cup team worked with students at Ohio Avenue Elementary School, the closest Columbus City School to the company’s Innovation Lab at 700 Alum Creek Drive.
“In many schools, staff members have many more demands, than they have time,” Grindle said. “Thanks to Melissa’s leadership, we have been able to give kids at Ohio Avenue Elementary the opportunity to participate.”
For the past nine months, the Crimson Cup team has met weekly with 10 Ohio Avenue Elementary fifth-grade students to help them learn about community issues. The students chose homelessness as the issue most important to them. After voting to work with Huckleberry House, a program for runaway and homeless teens at 1421 Hamlet Street in Columbus, the kids created an advocacy video. The project was recently featured on the “What’s Cool at School” segment of the WBNS-10TV morning news program.
“Having the opportunity to work closely with See Kids Dream has changed my perspective on giving back,” Rogner said. “Leading the Crimson Cup Project Dream team has been professionally and personally fulfilling by allowing me to see our impact of working with the students first-hand. It has been an incredible experience to be a part of this organization.”
A graduate of Hillard High School and Ohio University, Rogner lives in Hilliard (43206) with her husband Kevin and their two sons. She serves as a parent volunteer and youth sports advocate for a busy schedule of school and sports activities for her children.
About Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea
Columbus, Ohio coffee roaster Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea is Roast magazine’s 2016 Macro Roaster of the Year. Since 1991, Crimson Cup has roasted sustainably sourced specialty and craft coffee in small batches, which it sells directly to consumers and as wholesale coffee beans. The company also teaches entrepreneurs to run successful coffee houses through its coffee franchise alternative program, which includes a coffee shop business plan. Crimson Cup coffee is available through a community of more than 350 independent coffee houses, grocers, college and universities, restaurants and food service operations across 36 states, Guam and Bangladesh, as well as the company’s own Crimson Cup Coffee Houses. To learn more, visit crimsoncup.com.
About See Kids Dream
Founded by Bill and Laura Grindle in 2008, See Kids Dream is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization with a mission to empower youth with the skills, motivation and confidence to make the world a better place. Working with central Ohio educators and other non-profits, See Kids Dream creates and supports youth-driven service learning programs for ages 8-14. Through its Penny Harvest program, See Kids Dream has helped students raise more than $330,000 to support local community needs. To learn more, visit http://www.seekidsdream.org.