They came because they heard the beans were good. Seven travelers in a yellow van riding into the purple mist, into the mountains of Santa Fe, the heart of the coffee-growing region of Panama.

They came to meet a man named Jacinto, a leader of a peasant cooperative that grew the beans, naturally, using no chemicals, under the shade of nearby trees. They came from Chicago and Northampton, Mass. Coalition staff, a formerly homeless coffee roaster and his caseworker, a graphic designer, a student volunteer and an entrepreneur seeking items from the Third World.

And while they were there, they learned about coffee, about community, about possibility. When it was finally time to leave, they were filled with hope because they had come and found that what they had heard was true. The beans were, indeed, good.

What brought these fellow travelers together across so many miles into the hills of Panama? Coalition Café -- a project of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless created to unite the homeless population in Chicago and peasant coffee growers in Latin America in their struggle for self-sufficiency.

Coalition Café would provide the homeless with a livable wage for selling coffee grown by farmers being paid a fair price for their produce. First they would sell the coffee, then they would open a café and community space showcasing art, music and poetry created by Chicago's homeless and artisans artists from accross the world.