Passersby trudging down the damp streets of Portland a few weeks ago might’ve happened to come upon a small wood-paneled house with the words “Heretic Coffee Co.” sprawled across its sides. In April 2023, Heretic opened its doors to the public as a local business.  

The cafe is a nonprofit, aiming to train baristas in coffee brewing and encourage sustainable supply chains in the coffee industry. Over the course of two weeks, Heretic raised $359,944 in donations to provide free Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) breakfasts to Portland.

Journalist and co-founder of Heretic, Josh White, is constantly traveling for his work in conflict journalism. When founding Heretic, White had a communal vision for the business. 

“I wanted something that felt a little like community, a space for when I come back home,” White said.

White’s business idea took shape when he and his partners started purchasing coffee in bulk and noticed something strange. 

“I’m buying 100 pounds of coffee for like $400, that’s kind of weird,” White said. “We started doing a deep dive, and immediately understood that coffee farmers are getting paid pennies on the dollar.”

White then quickly realized that Heretic needed to prioritize its coffee farmers.

“The coffee industry is one of the most exploitative industries in the world. There [are] over 20 million coffee farmers, and 80% of them live in poverty,” White said. “Heretic ensures that they are sustaining an ethical supply chain by purchasing coffee beans from fair-paying coffee farms. Another one of the major initiatives we’re trying to work towards right now is to move all of our coffee roasting to fully electric energy. There are billions of tons of CO₂ emissions that come from the coffee industry every year, so we’re trying to reduce all gas emissions from our current roasting process.” 

While encouraging sustainable practices, Heretic also aided the Portland community by allowing volunteers to immerse themselves in a famously exclusive coffee industry. 

“A big part of what we do is workforce development– a lot of volunteer training with our baristas, which doubles on the community aspect,” White said.

The business is located on a quiet corner in the heart of Southeast Portland– a local gem that few had heard of until recently. 

“There was a very small [number] of people coming through our shop. We would typically do, maybe on a good day, 40 sales. All of that changed a couple of weeks ago,” White said.

On Oct. 1, 2025, the United States entered what was to become its longest government shutdown in history. Numerous government funding pauses were enacted, including on SNAP, which assists 1 in 8 Americans– 70% of them elderly, disabled, or children. These pauses meant that many Americans would receive half of the SNAP money they did prior to the budget shutdown– and in some cases, no aid at all. Because of the uncertainty millions of Americans faced, businesses stepped in, including Heretic. 

The business posted to their Instagram in late October, offering a free burrito to anyone who requested a ‘SNAP Breakfast,’ no questions asked, starting Nov. 1. The coffee shop realized the dire need for food in Portland quickly, and began providing their breakfasts days before they had planned to. 

The public quickly took to Heretic’s humanitarian mission, and requested a way to donate to the SNAP Breakfast fund. Heretic obliged, and before they knew it, the local coffee shop was picked up by national news sites as their success in raising funds soared. In just 16 days, Heretic had raised nearly 360k in donations in order to feed Portland. 

“We had our regular customers who would come in and order the SNAP breakfast. You would have never known that they were on SNAP before all this happened. The type of people that rely on SNAP are everyday, working Americans with nine-to-five jobs,” White said.

White grew up in a low-income household, but he never went without food. When providing meals to Portlanders, he became more aware of the diversity of those who were in need of community support.

“I had an understanding of it, but everything becomes very real when the people are standing right in front of you,” White said.

Until recently, White wasn’t sure if Portland was the city he should live in. 

“I moved here right in the smackdown of the pandemic. For the first couple of years, I felt like I had no community here, because none of us really could,” White said. 

After the SNAP breakfast, everything changed in just over two weeks.

“It’s been unreal. 12,000 people donating to our SNAP fund is beautiful, but seeing how many people come through Heretic just to support our shop now is just mind-blowing. The conversations I now have every day, [they] absolutely made me feel maybe this is where I’m going to call home for the long haul,” White said.

Now, the federal government has reopened. Much of the uncertainty surrounding SNAP and other federal aid programs is resolving. Despite this, Heretic now has hundreds of thousands of dollars in a donation fund, money that will continue to support Portland. 

“100% of the money is going to go to keep Portland fed,” White said. 

The business is devoted to a 40/60 split between the funds. 

“40% will be used to keep the SNAP breakfast indefinitely. SNAP or not, if you’re hungry and you can’t afford a meal, come get something to eat,” White said.

The other 60% is going towards charitable organizations that don’t get the media attention Heretic has received. 

“The first place we are supporting is a refugee organization called JSIR. We donated $25,000; that feeds six Palestinian families for six months. So that’s six months total that these Palestinian refugees do not have to worry about food at all,” White said “My hope is we can get enough people’s eyes on them to where they essentially will match the money that we’ve donated, and hopefully by the end of this week, it’s a total of $50,000, and then just other people donate to them to where they don’t have to worry about food for an entire year.” 

White’s goal is to use Heretic’s spotlight in the media as a tool to spread awareness for other causes. 

“Yes, JSIR does not have the money, but they also don’t have the attention. They do not have the social media following, and people don’t know about them. So now we ask, ‘how can we leverage all of our social media now in a way to really bring awareness to their cause?’” White said.

In a short period of time, Heretic has stepped to the forefront of businesses that are paving the way for a community centered on benefitting the public. White and his partners are working to keep Portland fed.