In collaboration with Grounds for Health, Lem Butler will walk 10K on International Women’s Day in Sidama, Ethiopia, to support healthcare programs for women coffee farmers.
BY EMILY JOY MENESES
ONLINE EDITOR
Featured image courtesy of Grounds for Health
In honor of this year’s International Women’s Day, leaders in the coffee community are gearing up for a cause that reaches beyond the café—10 kilometers, to be exact. On March 8, 2026, 2016 U.S. Barista Champion Lem Butler will walk 10K for H.E.R. (Health, Equity, Resources) in Ethiopia: a fundraising walk supporting nonprofit Grounds for Health and its work preventing cervical cancer among women coffee farmers in origin communities.
Paving the way to accessible healthcare
Leading the fundraiser, Lem will walk 10 kilometers from a community to a health center in Sidama, Ethiopia—a distance that mirrors a daily reality for many women living in rural Ethiopia, who, on average, walk five kilometers (three miles) each way in order to access essential healthcare services.
Grounds for Health shares how these barriers to healthcare affect women around the world: “Despite cervical cancer being almost entirely preventable, one woman dies from the disease every two minutes worldwide, largely due to lack of access to screening and early treatment,” the nonprofit wrote.
“Women are the backbone of the coffee industry,” says Lem. “They grow, harvest, and process the coffee we depend on—yet many are walking hours just to reach basic healthcare. 10K for H.E.R. is about honoring that reality and turning solidarity into action.”
Donations to the 10K for H.E.R. campaign will directly fund Grounds for Health’s cervical cancer prevention programs—which include education, screening, and treatment—in Ethiopia’s coffee-growing communities. Now celebrating its 30th anniversary, the nonprofit has already reached more than 250,000 women worldwide.
What donations make possible
Grounds for Health is currently calling for donations, and they share the impact that every dollar can have:
- $65 screens one woman for cervical cancer
- $100 provides community education for 100 women
- $325 screens five women
- $1,000 funds an entire one-day screening campaign
Adding momentum to the effort, California’s Royal Coffee is matching all donations dollar-for-dollar, doubling the impact of every contribution made through the campaign. “In the wake of last year’s USAID funding cuts, Grounds for Health remains one of the only organizations continuing this life-saving work,” the green coffee importer shared in an Instagram post.
Going beyond donations
Participation isn’t limited to those on the ground in Ethiopia: Grounds for Health is inviting community members worldwide to walk or run 10K in their own communities on International Women’s Day or anytime throughout March in solidarity. Supporters can follow Lem’s walk on Instagram at @lembutler and show their support using the hashtag #WalkforHER.
Learn more and contribute
To donate to 10K for H.E.R., visit the fundraising page here. And to learn more about Grounds for Health and their work, visit groundsforhealth.org.
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