Turtle Island Coffee Shop, the Indigenous and queer-owned coffee house in downtown Bend, is serving up a traditional Palestinian drink to raise funds for medical relief for Palestinians. The shop began offering Gawah, a latte drink that includes cinnamon, cardamom and rose, last week in an effort to raise funds for Doctors Without Borders, providing medical aid in Gaza and other locations in crisis.
"What's happening over there is the age-old tale of colonization," said Teh Sanchez, who owns Turtle Island, along with Beth Brady. "It goes very laterally with the Indigenous plight here in the United States."
Sanchez and Brady have also been serving up free coffee during weekend ceasefire demonstrations at Peace Corner, on Greenwood and Wall streets in Bend.
"A lot of people's idea, when they have a business, is to keep it business – it's for money. It's for capitalism," Sanchez told the Source Weekly. "But I mean, your businesses should represent who you are as a human being. I'm not just trying to make money. I want to use whatever platform I have to bring light to whatever injustices are currently happening."
Turtle Island Coffee originally planned to offer Gawah for a limited time but have since extended that offering.
Turtle Island is located at 180 NW Oregon Avenue in Bend. It's open seven days a week.
