In celebration of their 5-year anniversary, Statesboro’s own Three Tree Coffee Roasters has begun to raise $5,000 for the anti-trafficking ministry Out of Darkness, launching a new fundraising platform to help reach their goal.

The coffee shop was founded on South Main Street five years ago by Philip Klayman, who has built the company with the foundation of a threefold plan of ideals: empower farmers, engage the community, and end human trafficking.

Out of Darkness is an organization dedicated to working towards the goal of this last tenet, rescuing victims of human trafficking and ensuring they can live better lives again. The non-profit organization is one of many that Three Tree has partnered with, others including Fostering Bulloch and Safe Haven.

“Out of Darkness is a fantastic organization that sees tangible results in their mission to rescue and restore victims of human trafficking,” said Klayman. “They are very knowledgeable on this problem and heavily involved in the solutions. We couldn’t think of a better organization to support for our 5-year anniversary.”

To help reach their desired goal, Three Tree Coffee also plans to launch a new online fundraising platform called Fruitful Fundraisers. According to Klayman, the platform will benefit not only Out of Darkness, but any non-profit organization looking to help fund a cause; once they sign up, supporters of an organization will have the opportunity to purchase Three Tree Coffee online, with half of the sales going towards said organization.

Fruitful Fundraisers is already working to help Three Tree in funding their own cause; from August 22 to September 22, half of all sales on Fruitful Fundraiser will be donated to Out of Darkness.

In addition, Three Tree has also obtained the assistance of other small business sponsors to help reach their goal with similar sponsorships.

“I have to give a huge shout-out to Statesboro Real Estate, Pioneer Design, Quicken Steel & JJ Puccio with State Farm.” Klayman said. “They were all very gracious to participate in this fundraiser with us.”

For those looking to participate in the Out of Darkness fundraiser, visit www.threetreecoffee.com.