Robert Rueda

Robert Rueda, Global Blends Coffee Shop and Deli, Edinburgh, Texas

Global Blends Coffee Shop and Deli is a “pay what you can” coffee shop and deli located on the campus of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, on the Texas-Mexico border. After a study found that 40% of students at the university experienced hunger on an ongoing basis, Rueda opened the coffee shop, which offers affordable or no-cost food, along with leadership training and job skills for the students employed there.

About: Rueda, who was born and raised in Oaxaca, Mexico, arrived at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in 2005, when he was hired by the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Rueda transformed the lackluster campus organization into a. ministry that, pre-pandemic- touched over 1200 students per week.

Most of the nearly 30,000 students at the university are from the region along the U.S.-Mexico border Texans call “the Valley,” where the school is located. These students, reflective of their community, struggle with food insecurity and poverty.

“Our goal is to produce students that interact with the world based on a position of strength,” Rueda said. “That strength comes from how God created them to be: where they were born and how their experiences can now inform their reality.”

Students are employed at the coffee shop, learning essential job skills, and continue to grow through the leadership development program, developing strengths and capabilities that will enhance both academic and career development.