Common Grounds shines a spotlight on people doing incredible things in their communities around coffee. Their work advances creativity, causes, and conversation, and expresses the notion that specialty coffee is for all.

For our inaugural installment of our content series Common Grounds, we bring you Chris McAuley (he/him, they/them), a former café manager, forever barista, and part-time soap maker based in Durham, North Carolina.

In June 2019, Chris founded getchu some gear, “A project that ships free donated coffee gear to baristas and coffee professionals that hold marginalized identities.” In a single year, “We have shipped 76 boxes of gear/educational resources (worth about $9,000). Last week, we announced a new education department, where we’ll be creating tangible and virtual resources to go along with the gear boxes we send. We also recently raised enough money to fund the formation of our 501(c)(3)!” Meet Chris.