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DIAMOND RESORTS TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONSJanuary 17, 2019Ivan RodriguezLake Buena Vista, Florida Q. Pudge, let me ask you this. You're raising money to help with the Puerto Rico recovery through your coffee, right? IVAN RODRIGUEZ: We started way before the coffee. We did a couple of donations when the storm came through. Two weeks later we send some food and water, like thousands of pounds of food there for the people in Puerto Rico. And now with the coffee, what we're doing with the coffee is we're helping all the coffee producers in Puerto Rico. So all the farms in Puerto Rico that was damaged by the storm, what we're doing is everyone who buys coffee from me -- Q. Pudge Coffee? IVAN RODRIGUEZ: Pudge Coffee. We're going to donate one coffee tree to one coffee producer in Puerto Rico. So we have 750,000 trees already now farmed, already growing. Q. What would the financial impact be, do you think? What are you hoping for? IVAN RODRIGUEZ: The financial is going to be -- it's going to be for the people in Puerto Rico. What I mean is then we're counting on them because my job is to make sure they have everything they need, everything they need. But the impact in Puerto Rico is going to be kind of like we're going to donate money from my revenue of my business to help a school or hospital or build a basketball court or something that the towns need to have. You know what I mean? Like that's my job. And I'm willing to do it myself with a group of people because that's the other thing that I'm doing in Puerto Rico is not only coffee. I'm doing like three or four things. Q. How much money to contribute to charity is your goal? IVAN RODRIGUEZ: The money -- as much as we can. I don't want to say number to you because, if I say this number and it's more, blessed. But if I say less, I'm going to look bad. But it's going to be plenty of money to help. But the most important thing is that we need to continue to support the producers of the coffee in Puerto Rico because, when you produce a coffee, it's not an easy thing to do. You're talking about wake up at 4:00 in the morning and go to that farm and being there all day until 6:00 in the afternoon and make sure those coffee trees are in great shape. So that's why, to me, it's a business that I got in because, obviously, I'm a coffee drinker in the morning, and I love coffee. Q. How long has Pudge Coffee been around? IVAN RODRIGUEZ: Three years. So for my business, it's been three years. But my partners is the ones who start it, and I joined them three years ago. And what I'm doing is just make sure they're growing better, they're growing bigger because we own 2,000 acres in my hometown. My partners is in the same hometown. We grow up together. And we're doing all this together because it's kind of like a family. It's kind of like a family because we're helping all the coffee growers because 70 percent of all the coffee producers, all the coffee producers lost everything in Puerto Rico. Q. 70 percent of the coffee producers lost everything? IVAN RODRIGUEZ: Yes. Q. Wow. Speaking of losing -- did you have family -- do you have family and friends who were hit hard by the hurricane? IVAN RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, all my family lives in Puerto Rico. All my family is in Puerto Rico. My parents live in Puerto Rico, and they went through a tough time. They went through a tough time, like everybody else, and that's what we're doing. Q. A lot of people went without electricity for months and months, right? IVAN RODRIGUEZ: No. It was six months. Six months without power. My dad and my mom didn't have power after three months later. After three months later, generators -- Q. How did they get power, generators? IVAN RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, I built their homes for that, so they have plenty of -- they have big generators and big tank full of diesel. So they were okay. But I mean, I'm glad that they're good. I'm glad that their home was good. But I feel sorry for everybody else. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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