From Prayer to Purpose: How a Newton County Couple Built a Coffee Brand to Fight Human Trafficking

For years, Wendy Burnham carried a quiet, persistent prayer: that human trafficking would end. It was a burden God had placed on her heart, one she returned to again and again without knowing what she was supposed to do about it — until one day in August 2025, when the prayer turned into a directive.

"I felt a clear word from the Lord that I needed to do more than pray," Wendy recalls. "I needed to put feet to it."

She understood immediately what that meant: build a website, sell something, and give the proceeds to organizations doing the hands-on prevention, rescue, and survivor care. There was just one problem. Her husband, Richard, had spent years building websites and had always said no to e-commerce — he'd even handed off past opportunities to other companies rather than build a store himself.

So Wendy didn't bring it to Richard. She brought it to God instead.

"I told the Lord I was all in, that I'd do whatever it took — but He was going to have to talk to Richard, because I wasn't going to," she said. She began quietly researching e-commerce platforms, looking into builders like Shopify and WooCommerce, and waited.

Just two days later, the answer arrived in the most ordinary way possible. Richard and Wendy were riding down the road together when Richard turned to her and said, "I think I want to sell coffee."

Wendy laughed, and then she cried. God had answered her prayer, and now she knew exactly what they'd be selling to fund the fight against trafficking. She believes God gave each of them a piece of the same mission — hers the calling to act, his the means to act with. By December 2025, Serenity Shore Coffee had launched.

A Mission Wrapped Around a Cup

Serenity Shore Coffee is built on a simple but radical idea: that something as ordinary as a morning cup of coffee can become an instrument of rescue. The Burnhams see themselves, and the coffee itself, as nothing more than the vessel — the means God chose to fund a mission much bigger than one small business.

Forty percent of every sale goes directly to organizations with boots on the ground in the fight against human trafficking — groups that rescue victims, provide safe housing, and walk survivors through the long road of medical and psychological recovery. For Wendy and Richard, every bag sold is a tangible answer to the prayer that started it all.

Wendy said, "We're trying to be obedient to what we were asked to do, and coffee just happens to be the tool."

Becoming a Voice for the Voiceless

For Wendy, Serenity Shore Coffee was never meant to be a passive fundraising arm. She wanted to be equipped to speak directly into the issue — to understand it well enough to educate others, recognize warning signs, and point people toward real help.

To that end, Wendy has pursued specialized training with TAPESTRI and Wellspring Living, two organizations with deep expertise in serving trafficking survivors, as well as the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), covering both labor and sex trafficking. She has also trained with RAGAS (Rotary Action Group Against Slavery) on the dynamics of nihilistic violence — knowledge that informs how she talks to community groups about recognizing risk and responding appropriately.

She is an active Rotarian and a member of RAGAS, a Walton County Chamber Ambassador, and Co-Chair of the Chamber's Ignite Referral Group. She recently spoke to the Kiwanis Club about human trafficking and the work of Serenity Shore Coffee, and her advocacy has drawn attention beyond Newton County — she was recently featured in Voyage ATL magazine.

Wendy is quick to point out that awareness is the first line of defense. Trafficking, she explains, often hides in plain sight — in restaurants, nail salons, hotels, agricultural work, and even within family or relationship dynamics where coercion and control aren't always visible to outsiders. She encourages community members to learn the signs (which can include but are not limited to): a person who seems coached on what to say, who isn't allowed to speak for themselves, who shows signs of fear or excessive submission toward another person, who lacks control over their own identification documents or finances, visible bruising, tattoos of money bags or barcodes. She urges anyone who suspects trafficking not to intervene directly, but to contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or local law enforcement.

A Big, Audacious Goal

Wendy and Richard are both fond of a phrase popularized by business author Darren Hardy: a BHAG — a Big Hairy Audacious Goal. For Serenity Shore Coffee, that goal is 4,000 monthly coffee subscribers, sustained over the next five years, with the aim of donating $1.5 million to anti-trafficking organizations.

On its face, 4,000 subscribers might sound like a stretch for a small coffee brand. But the Burnhams like to put the number in perspective. Georgia alone is home to roughly 11.4 million people. Four thousand monthly subscribers, spread across a state that size, is a drop in the bucket — a goal well within reach if enough people decide that their morning coffee habit could double as a small act of rescue.

“What we need” they said, "Is a few thousand people deciding that their coffee can mean something. We believe Georgia has more than enough people who'd say yes to that."

A Newton County Story, A Global Mission

Wendy and Richard Burnham are Newton County natives and have a couple of businesses other than Serenity Shore Coffee. They own Salt Net Digital Agency, where they help small businesses strengthen their digital presence, and In The Light Artistry, where Wendy's oil and acrylic paintings and murals find their own way of telling a story.

But it's Serenity Shore Coffee that carries the mission closest to Wendy's heart — one built not on a business plan, but on a prayer.

"We just want to be obedient," Wendy said. "If God can use a cup of coffee to help save a life, then that's exactly what we're going to do."

Serenity Shore Coffee donates 40% of every sale to organizations fighting human trafficking, with a goal of reaching 4,000 monthly subscribers and donating $1.5 million over the next five years. To learn more, subscribe, or place an order, visit serenityshorecoffee.com  or follow Serenity Shore Coffee on social media. Breathe Deep. Sip Slow. Live Free.

This Mug’s On A Mission!