Our Story

I love chocolate. I mean, I really love it. And I find just about any excuse to eat more. But, before I give you your greatest excuse to eat more chocolate, I should provide some context.  

For much of the last 6 years, my main focus has been on ending homelessness in Atlanta. As a social worker, I have worked with a lot of incredibly resilient people who fell on the hardest of times but fought to regain self-sufficiency with a little bit of help from myself and my amazing social work colleagues. More than anything else, I take away two things from this work. 

First, the key to ending someone’s homelessness, simple as it sounds, is permanent housing. Ending the immediate crisis of homelessness as quickly as possible allows people the opportunity to focus on the other things they need to do to regain self-sufficiency. My second takeaway is that employers can make the difference between homelessness and housing stability. For many, the next step towards making homelessness permanently a thing of their past after moving into housing is to increase income through employment. This, in my experience, can be the most challenging part of the work being done across the country to end homelessness. 

My business partner and fellow social worker Amy Barrow and I decided to do something to change that. With much support from our friends and families, we are excited to introduce you to our company, Changemaker Chocolates. Our mission is to create jobs that empower our neighbors to end their experience of homelessness by providing you with hand-crafted chocolate indulgences of the highest quality. Changemaker Chocolates partners with local nonprofits to identify and hire individuals who have recently entered permanent housing, and our journey has just begun.

So, before you is an opportunity to indulge in some delicious chocolate treats and feel great about doing it. Every order helps us create jobs for those who have recently ended their homelessness. Thank you for taking this journey with us and helping us create opportunities that end homelessness.

Changemaker Chocolates: Eat Chocolate, End Homelessness 

Danny Lester-Drew

Founder & CEO