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Sandy-haired Cuco, 2, lives on the streets of Alejuelita, a lurid, decaying area west of Costa Rica's capital, San Jose, where crack addicts and street gangs roam and rob. Cuco's mother peddles drugs and sex in the neighborhood, while Cuco and his five siblings are left on their own to survive.

Until six months ago, Cuco's one daily meal came from a friendly neighbor. Then a 4-year-old friend brought him to Hogar Zoe (House of Life), a Christian drug rehabilitation center that, as best it can on scarce resources, also ministers to needy children.

REACHING KIDS: Two years ago, Chris Dearnley, pastor of the Vineyard Church of Escazœ, near San Jose, asked Zoe's director, Carlos Cordoba, how Dearnley's church could support the program. Cordoba responded simply, "Help us reach the children."

Hogar Zoe serves meals to neighborhood youth every other day, so the Vineyard of Escazœ took charge of the kitchen every other Saturday and added an evangelism outreach. But soon Dearnley came to understand what Cordoba already recognized: It would take more than beans and rice to keep these children from perishing on the streets of San Jose. Dearnley wrestled with the problem of how to assure a steady stream of funds for Zoe so it could expand programs to have greater impact on young lives.

Dearnley, whose background includes a Harvard mba, started thinking about coffee. He recalls visiting university friends in California in July 1997: "We were sitting around discussing our financial need and situation, and I said, 'Hey, I brought you some coffee from Costa Rica.' " At that moment, he envisioned a coffee export operation, with the profits financing social outreach. "We looked at each other and said, 'Hey, why don't we do this?' "

Now Pura Vida Coffee Company (www.puravidacoffee.com; 1-888-577-4JOY) supports Pura Vida Ministries, established to finance not only Hogar Zoe, but other ministries in Central America as well. The name comes from a Costa Rican colloquialism, figuratively meaning "great, terrific," but literally meaning "pure life."

"We believe this coffee is about pure life: Offering the life of Christ to people who are struggling," Dearnley says.

John Sage, Dearnley's Harvard housemate who attended that California meeting, is also a founding member of Pura Vida Coffee Company. Sage was creator of Starbucks' Red Ribbon Sampler coffee/music gift package that generates funds for AIDS research. Sage, whose brother died of the disease five years ago, says the Starbucks project should raise at least $40,000 this fall for AIDS organizations around the country.

Pura Vida Coffee began operations in January with no advertising budget. Instead, it is relying on word of mouth to spread news of the product. Dearnley says Pura Vida's coffee supplier is supportive of its mission and has allowed the company to start with low volume and use its Miami call center. Dearnley's vision is that Christians and churches would buy Pura Vida for their in-house use or as gifts.

While interest and sales have been strong, so far the money generated by sales has been reinvested in more coffee, Dearnley says. But Sage believes that for Pura Vida Coffee, which features the world-renowned premium variety Tarrazœ, profits could approach $40,000 its first year.

Todd Hunter, national director of the Anaheim, California-based Association of Vineyard Churches-USA, lauds Dearnley's approach to ministry as "spiritual entrepreneurship." "I would encourage it if it became a trend," Hunter says.

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October 5 1998, Vol. 42, No. 11