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BURLINGTON — Every Friday morning, the smell of coffee rises from the basement of an old, white building in the heart of downtown. The aroma fills the rooms of what used to be a bank and drifts into the street.

The rich, smoky scent comes from a small coffee roaster run by reformed convicts, recovering addicts, and former gang members plucked from jail.

Groups of men meet weekly in the basement of the former bank on Fairhaven Avenue that has been converted into living spaces, a sanctuary, and now the beginning of a small coffee-roasting plant called the Underground Coffee Project.

At the head of the budding enterprise is Zack Joy, a 36-year-old reformed convict with more felonies than he can remember and almost that many tattoos.
Many people who know Joy say he’s an inspiration — a model for those struggling to turn their lives around.

“I came from a huge, huge hole, so I can’t see how I couldn’t inspire anyone,” Joy said during a recent coffee-roasting session.

As the shiny black and steel roaster hummed, Joy scooped green beans from Honduras out of burlap bags and into the roaster. He monitored the screen on a nearby computer that showed the temperature of the beans inside, and then released the browned coffee into a flat, round compartment where metal prongs stirred it as it cooled.

Sometimes other people show up to help roast or grind the coffee; sometimes Joy is alone.

Until four years ago, Joy spent most of his time using a concoction of drugs, mostly methamphetamines, or hiding in dark, dingy trailers to mix and cut the drug to sell. His addiction stemmed from his teen years and spanned almost two decades.

While in jail for a drug-related crime about six years ago, Joy met Bob Ekblad, a jail chaplain and founder of the ministry Tierra Nueva.

That meeting spawned a pivotal change in Joy’s life that would eventually put him at the helm of the Underground Coffee Project.

The similarities between Joy’s former drug habit and his new coffee roasting craft don’t escape him.

“We’re sitting in an underground basement cooking it, bagging it up and pushing it out onto the streets trying to get people hooked,” he said.

But rather than serving up emptiness and hopelessness through drugs, Joy — clean for four years — said his new love of coffee gives hope to those who drink it.

Blending coffee, faith
The Underground Coffee Project was designed to help those making the transition from jail. The meager profits are distributed based on need, to help pay for everything from court fees to groceries. The roasting sessions also serve a dual purpose of supporting people in trouble with the law and giving them a welcoming place to hang out.

Tierra Nueva received a Presbyterian grant for the coffee roaster in 2007. The beans come from Ekblad’s original ministry in Honduras, where farmers he knows grow the coffee.

Joy learned how to perfectly roast the beans while attending roasting conferences and watching other specialty coffee roasters in Seattle, such as Caffe Vita. The roast he uses is a mixture of 30 percent light and 70 percent dark, symbolizing the light of faith in the darkness of the underground world.

Tierra Nueva has been instrumental in giving Joy that faith.

The ministry was founded in 1994 in an old bank that has been converted into a sanctuary that provides a variety of services — English and Spanish classes, family support, and aid for undocumented immigrants facing deportation. It serves Skagit County’s most down-and-out, including addicts, gang members and jail inmates.

Upstairs in the Tierra Nueva building, jail chaplain Chris Hoke lives with other men — some who he met while visiting them in jail. A former gang member lives there with his wife and child. During the winter, a recovering alcoholic lived behind the thick, metal doors of the former bank’s vault when he wasn’t serving time in jail.

Those who work closely with Skagit County’s jail population — especially defense attorneys — say Tierra Nueva provides invaluable help to those who especially need it.

“I have been impressed with the work of Tierra Nueva for a long time,” said Keith Tyne, director of the Skagit County Public Defender’s Office.

The organization also helps ex-gang members find new social activities to abandon the gang lifestyle when they get out of jail, Tyne said.

Glen Hoff, with the Public Defender’s Office, has worked with many of Skagit County’s most serious felons. Hoff said groups like Tierra Nueva are “tremendously positive.”

“Visitation generally and ministry specifically act as a kind of cognitive therapy to deal with the unpleasant and harsh environment of the jail and the criminal justice system,” Hoff said.

Those who have strong relationships are easier to work with, he said.

“Their mood is better. They think more clearly. They are able to make better decisions,” he said.

“The flip side to this is that people who live in an isolated environment or isolate themselves tend to internalize their feelings and thoughts, which can lead to them losing touch with objectivity and in rare cases, with reality itself.”

Spreading hope
Joy is considered one of Tierra Nueva’s biggest success stories.

He lives with his girlfriend of two years in Blaine and two of his four children. He drives to Burlington several times a week for the coffee project, meetings, and prayer groups at the old bank. He takes the needy to court, to doctor’s appointments or to look for jobs. He also travels the U.S. telling his story to other church groups and promoting the freshly roasted coffee.

Soon, he hopes to regain his rights he lost as a result of his convictions, including traveling out of the country to tell his story worldwide.

“As a felon, I’m not supposed to leave — you’d think they’d want me out of here,” he laughed.

Together, Joy and the leaders at Tierra Nueva, like jail chaplains Hoke and Ekblad, have touched dozens of lives. Some say the ministry has kept them from returning to a life of vice and jail.

Four years ago, Ramon Luna faced a long list of serious felonies and years in prison, but was acquitted by a jury. During his time in jail awaiting trial, he met Hoke.

“It impressed me so much. I remember calling him a hypocrite. I didn’t like God people,” Luna said. “The same guy who I called a hypocrite was the only one who would listen.”

Eventually, Luna moved into building with the others, and now helps roast coffee with Joy.

“I fell in love with him because there is no fakeness in him,” Luna said on a recent Friday morning in the basement. “I see the true meaning of change in him. It’s not something that I actually know, it’s something that I feel.”

Joy said success stories like Luna’s help him stay committed to his recovery and his new life. It’s tough to stay committed, though, when addicts around him continue to relapse without trying to change.

“Sometimes I wonder if I’m really helping,” Joy said.

As Joy roasted coffee on a recent Friday, people wandered in and out of the basement. Like most roasting days, Joy never knows who will show up. He greets whoever comes down the stairs with a pat on the back and a hug.

Brent Morlan recently dropped in for a visit.

“Three years ago I met these guys in jail and I haven’t been back (behind bars),” Morlan said.

One first-time visitor, Nicholas Mustain, a recovering meth addict, helped grind 10 pounds of coffee for a Presbyterian church in Bellingham and said he hoped to return.

Others, like Luna, say they’ll never leave.

“I have a different life that has more meaning, that doesn’t have grief,” Luna said. “I’m here for life without parole. I’m stuck here — and I love it.”

n Tahlia Ganser can be reached at 360-416-2148 or at .