A coffee shop on the lakeshore could have made their brew extra hot Sunday and it still wouldn’t be enough to counter the piercing cold of a plunge in the lake.
Aldea coffee hosted its first ever cold plunge, with workers and customers jumping straight into Lake Michigan to raise money for their non-profit, and the farmers who help to grow their coffee. The shop has been around west Michigan since 2015, with locations in Grand Haven and Spring Lake.
The shop also supports non-profit Aldea Development which started in 2009. The group helps create opportunities for farmers growing their coffee in Honduras.
“It’s about making their lives sustainable and having a consistent place for them to sell their specialty grade coffee,” said Jeremy Miller, Owner of Aldea Coffee. “We help them grow a higher quality product through our agricultural training's and micro loans that we do with them.”
The shop is all about giving back and helping in the environment, hosting beach clean ups throughout the years.
So, it was a logical connection for the group to bring together the lake and non-profit for a community filled event. Hence Sunday evenings cold plunge, at North Beach Park in Ferrysburg.
“We just thought it was a great showcase for Aldea development and bringing together the community here in Grand Haven and Muskegon,” Miller said.
And the event did the trick with donors like Jim Anderson taking the plunge himself, but not before he donated $15,000 to the organization.
“It’s not warm, but it feels warm for a minute,” Anderson said. “And then I take my plunge in there and stay out there for about two minutes. And, yeah, it's invigorating, for sure.”
The fun didn’t stop in the water, with the group providing coffee and a bon fire after to get the warm up process started.
“The fire was kind of crucial,” said Christopher Bauer, doing his first ever cold plunge. “I basically wanted to put my entire foot in the fire just to warm my feet and my hands as we.”
The group hopes to make a yearly tradition, foundation has been around for over a decade; they look to continue creating opportunities for the farmers in Honduras.
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