Starbucks is a well-known coffee company with over 22,000 stores open around the world. They have been around since their humble beginning in the 1970’s when three friends open up the first store in order to provide others with high-quality coffee. These friends probably didn’t expect that their company would soon become a huge empire within 50 years.

During their 50 years, Starbucks has done so much to change what it means to be a big corporation and they are doing their best to make their impact count. One of the ways that they do this is for every bag of coffee grounds you buy, Starbucks will plant a tree.

This idea is not revolutionary, however, because of the large demand for coffee all over the world and climate change in the regions where coffee grows the best, the company has made steps towards lessening the impact that they have on the slowly decreasing coffee tree population.

Another incredible thing that Starbucks does is that they support those who are going to college. They have started to offer 4-year college scholarships to some of their partners in hope of having 25,000 graduates by 2025.

I think that this is incredible. There are so many bright young minds out there that should be in college, furthering their educations, but can’t because they cannot afford to go. This is a sad fact of life, but Starbucks is changing the lives of some students by giving them an opportunity to better their lives. I applaud them greatly for that.

Something that Starbucks has been under fire for recently is that they announced that they are in pursuit of hiring 10,000 refugees. People were upset by this announcement because they thought that the company was taking a jab at the President or they thought that this “too political” for the company. Others were outraged because they thought that Starbucks should focus on hiring other kinds of people in need, like veterans.

Well, Starbucks actually committed to hiring 10,000 veterans and their spouses by 2018. In fact, they already hit that mark and are trying to surpass it. The company has also made it a point to hire 10,000 opportunity youths. This means that they are trying to hire young adults that may be homeless, in shelters, or in some other difficult situation. Starbucks is there to support those who need it most.

It’s clear that Starbucks understands what it means to have a large audience and they are making it count. They are reaching out to those in need and helping them through hard as much as they can. Of course, there is much more to be done, but these small steps will begin to add up soon enough.

So, before turning your nose to this coffee giant in favor of a local mom and pop, remember that they too started as a small business. Give them a chance, you won’t regret it.