Matt Phillips, Military Java Group
WHY I GIVE
Matt Phillips, Military Java Group
It’s an honor and privilege to be working with Semper Fi & America’s Fund and assisting them in their mission of supporting our wounded troops from all service branches. They are very special to me as my dad was a WWII Marine who spent 20+ months in the Pacific, and so our company is a tribute to him in supporting The Fund.
Dad was the youngest of 16, with 14 being boys. Three served in WWI, one a Silver Star recipient for action in France with the USA 77th Division (he left it to me, which I treasure). Five served in WWII and one, my Uncle Winefred, served in both wars. He was on a Navy destroyer in the first and joined the Navy Seabees after Pearl Harbor. He participated in 4 campaigns in the Pacific, the last on Okinawa where he ran into his son, also a Navy Seabee.
I couldn’t serve in uniform as, due to an injury, my right eye was removed at age 7. And so, I ended up in the green coffee trading business, lived in Brazil and spent 25 years trading coffee. The last 15 years, I was the President of a Brazilian Agri Group, and our HQ was down the block from 1 MCRD HQ in Garden City, NY, where I met and befriended Marines and did what I could to support them and their families.
After retiring from coffee, and never having the opportunity to serve, I went to my Marine buddies and asked if they could help get me a deployment to Iraq. In 2008, they came through for me, and I deployed as part of the OIF LOGCAP mission and then volunteered to forward deploy and was sent to FOB Warrior, Kirkuk.
It was there, seeing firsthand as to what a great job all these young men and women do – and in such miserable conditions – that the idea for Military Java Group was formed. And Semper Fi & America’s Fund, because of the great people and work that they do, was my choice to affiliate our coffee and mission with.
Military Java Group is the culmination of a desire to take 35-years of coffee-industry experience and mold it into something which can make a difference in the lives of our young men and women who have given so much in service and sacrifice to this great nation. Coffee has shared a special place in the American military tradition as far back as the Civil War and continues to be a part of military life to this day. We hope you join us in our mission of supporting all of our Military by purchasing our great, 100% Arabica coffee, where 50% of profits are donated to Semper Fi & America’s Fund.