Anna brings an entrepreneurial flair to all her ventures, all deeply-rooted in her life’s purpose to help others, both in her native Rwanda and here in Sonoma. Seated outside Bon Marché Thrift Store, enjoying a Rwandan brew from her new Coffee Cart, Anna tells Anna her remarkable story.
“Why a coffee cart? It’s all connected. From early days I wanted to support agriculture in Rwanda. The profits from the cart will go to the nonprofit Gardens for Health in Rwanda, which I’ve been supporting almost since I started the thrift business. For the last ten years I’ve been buying Rwandan coffee directly from a farmer and selling it in the store. Since 2018, Gorilla’s Coffee. It’s “beyond fair trade.” $20 for 500 grams, more than a pound, and the farmer gets about $15. There’s nothing between the farm and your cup. It’s a cultivar of Arabica. No pesticides – in Rwanda they are banned. Anyway, shoppers would say they wanted a taste of the coffee. And I thought, I’ll do a coffee cart.
And … ? I ordered this beautiful little cart, we put it right outside the store and opened up last September. Lots of parking, and a place to sit and enjoy. It’s open Monday through Friday, 7 am – 1 pm. We sell Sweet Pea pastries and Safeway doughnuts to go with your coffee. And local Valley Girl granola in a snack-size bag – just add your kind of milk to the bag and enjoy with your coffee. In Rwanda, we believe if you meet over a drink or a meal, you bring family together, you make family. Come join us!
Were you always in the thrift business? For six years I had a business exporting used clothing. My heart was always to help people – I never wanted to be a business mogul. My father had died when I was nine, and I knew what a hard time my mother had raising us six children. I wanted to impact women, so Antoine and I were giving Rwandan women small business loans, with the profits from my business.
But I decided to open a thrift store instead, making good used clothing and things available to people who need them. And it was a nonprofit store from the start. My parents had had a store in the countryside in Rwanda, a general store. You sold anything and everything the people needed. And they had also been coffee growers, and at their store, they bought coffee from the local farmers. So I knew coffee since I was little. I love coffee.
How did you connect with the nonprofit in Rwanda your store supports? At that time my husband Antoine, who is a software engineer, was in Rwanda helping get the country computerized. He met three American girls who were working there to address childhood malnutrition through gardens. One of them, Emily, turned out to be the daughter of a Sonoman, David Morell. And would you believe, independently, around the same time, I met him here. Anyway, those girls’ project, Garden for Health International, is the nonprofit my thrift store – also a nonprofit – has been partnering with ever since. They are integrating teaching agriculture and nutrition, to fight chronic childhood malnutrition.
How did you start supporting local causes too? Well, I had been wanting to help in the town I live in, not just in my old country Rwanda. Just my presence here, offering a place to both donate and shop, is a contribution to the community. It’s a recycling opportunity too.
But then something else came up. When I was in my first store, behind the Nicholas Building on Riverside, there were homeless people living along the creek behind, and at night they would go through the donation bins, taking things they needed. So I thought, “Why not give them gift cards, so they don’t have to take things?” I worked with Kathy King at S.O.S. (Sonoma Overnight Support then), who distributed $20 vouchers each month, for people to be able to stand up, come in and shop, and feel like the other customers. Everything happens for a reason.
Do you still give vouchers? Now they are gift cards for $40, and I give them through Homeless Action Sonoma. All twenty people in their Tiny Homes get a $40 card every month.
Other local contributions? Yes, through Teen Services. We give the teens everything they need to wear for a job interview. And we donate prom dresses, suits, shoes. Everything. Joelle Smith comes and helps pre-select things for the high school kids to come try on, girls and boys. So they can be beautifully ready to go to prom. And another way I contribute locally, I am a member of the Board of Directors of the Sonoma Ecology Center.
You grew up in Rwanda. How did you get to Sonoma? When I was fourteen my mother sent me to a Catholic boarding school in Brussels, Belgium. My first language was Kinyarwanda, but I also knew French. There were some other girls from Rwanda there, but I didn’t know them before. The girls were mostly from families in the diplomatic world, moving all over.
After Belgium? When I graduated, I moved to Montreal, where I went to the Université du Quebec. I got a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Business. And that’s where I met Antoine, who had left Rwanda when he was young. We have been married twenty-five years and have lived in Sonoma for twenty-three. We have two grown daughters.
What are the challenges? You have your heart to help, your compassion, but you have to have a heart for business too. That’s where my Board comes in. In this era, you have to be creative to run a nonprofit. And I have a wonderful team that I work with. Although all the goods are donated, you still have so many costs – salaries, rent, PG&E, insurance, taxes.
Last thoughts? I have a wonderful team of people that work in the store, plus four volunteers. We always keep in mind the programs we’re supporting. We are grateful to our loyal customers and our donors.
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