- Dave, Lender
Nectar Cafe is a small vegan cafe three blocks from my house in Portland, Oregon. I eat a vegan whole food plant based diet, so when I discovered Nectar Cafe I absolutely fell in love with place. I believe that if the whole world went vegan we would consume vastly less fossil fuel, we would stop producing vast swaths of inedible corn given for feed to animals, we would reduce the use of fertilizers and pesticides that are polluting our soil, groundwater, rivers and our oceans actually creating dead zones in areas. In addition, plant based diets have great health benefits and lower healthcare costs.
The food at Nectar Cafe is vegan and awesome. All of the staff are amazing, fun, kind, and interesting. You can tell that the staff love working there, largely as a result of Natasha, the owner of the cafe. Natasha, who opened Nectar Cafe because of her passion for preparing and eating delicious vegan food with a plant based diet, worked her tail off to get where she is right now.
When I found out that she was getting a $10,000 Kiva loan to build out and repair some of her outdated equipment, I thought that was really neat. I followed up with her about it the next time I came into the cafe, and she mentioned that she was short of her goal and her deadline was approaching. I decided to fully fund her loan later in the week if her goal wasn’t reached. I am not wealthy but comfortable with my life and situation.
I ended up funding the rest of Natasha’s loan because I believe in her and her staff. It is also the way I like to live my life. I believe that people with great energy deserve kindness.
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