The Human Bean of Northern Colorado held its 12th annual Coffee for a Cure day this past Oct. 20, during which all eight locations in Larimer County and Weld County donated 100 percent of their sales to local cancer projects.

According to a press release published by Jill Maasch, an account manager at the Mantooth Marketing Company, the combined sales of Human Bean products during Coffee for a Cure day amounted to $52,463.79.

“It was our most successful Coffee for a Cure yet,” said Lauren Sawinska, the public relations project manager for all Northern Colorado Human Bean locations. “Last year we raised around $50,000. This year it was over $52,000. Each year, Coffee for a Cure becomes increasingly more successful and we’re grateful for our community and all of the generous people who participated this year.”

With the intent of supporting local cancer fighters, the Human Bean started its annual Coffee for a Cure day event in 2005, partnering with the Poudre Valley Hospital and Medical Center of the Rockies Foundation Oncology Patient and Family Support Fund, and the Northern Colorado Medical Center Breast Cancer Fund.

“The Human Bean has always been really involved in the northern Colorado community,” Sawinska said. “With October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, they wanted to just do something that would help out local breast cancer and other cancer fighters. It’s been a really great way to support local cancer fighters in the community.”

Coffee for a Cure day is the Human Bean of Northern Colorado’s largest annual fundraiser event.

According to Sawinska, this year’s Coffee for a Cure day was organized and executed by several key people, including the Human Bean of northern Colorado owners Frank and Kay Sherman, Director of Operations Janae Nequette and a dedicated team of managers and baristas.

The $23,339.68 raised by Larimer County locations will benefit the Poudre Valley Hospital and Medical Center of the Rockies Foundation Oncology Patient and Family Support Fund, and the $29,195.11 raised by Weld County locations will go towards the Northern Colorado Medical Center Breast Cancer Fund.

According to Maasch’s press release, these two programs respectively help cancer patients pay for insurance premiums, prescriptions and office visits and procedures, and provide residents with breast imaging, biopsies, treatment and basic needs to women with breast cancer.

Part of the success of this year’s Coffee for a Cure day can be attributed to both traditional and newly added components of the Human Bean’s marketing campaign for the event.

“The Human Bean has a very large following on Facebook as well as other platforms, and they promoted it on all of those channels and sent out several email blasts,” Sawinska said. “We sent out a press release and it was featured in the Coloradoan and on Town Square Media’s radio station’s blogs which reaches quite a few people.”

For the first time, the Human Bean created a Snapchat location filter for Coffee for a Cure day. The Human Bean donated an extra dollar every time the filter was used, and the amount of money raised by the filter alone totaled to over $600.

“It sounds like a bit of a drop in the bucket for a $52,000 fundraiser, but when it’s making the difference between last year’s total and this year’s total, it definitely bumped it up significantly,” Sawinska said.

The Human Bean also created drawings for prize giveaways with the intention of getting the community involved and excited for the event ahead of time. Some of these prizes included branded coffee mugs, travel, mugs, tumblers and stickers, as well as swag items.

No new Human Bean locations have opened since last year’s Coffee for a Cure day, so the increase in money raised was solely based off the same eight Human Bean locations that already existed.

With two new Human Bean locations planned to open near Windsor’s Main St. and Greeley’s St. Michael’s retail area in 2018, however, Sawinska is hopeful that next year’s Coffee for a Cure day will see an increase in the amount of money raised compared to this year’s fundraiser.

“We’re already excited for how much money we’re going to be raising,” Sawinska said. “We’re very fortunate to be part of such a generous community. It was a group effort for sure and we’re certainly very grateful for all of our customers who made Coffee for a Cure successful this year. We look forward to being able to serve the community even more.”

Collegian reporter Matt Bailey can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @mattnes1999.