Triad coffee company honors memory of Sgt. Dale Nix

GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — What do you do after a tragedy?

When a law enforcement officer is killed, it shakes the entire community. They are people who put their lives on the line, as we learned on Dec. 30, 2023, even when they’re not officially on duty.

On that day, Sgt. Dale Nix was not on duty. He went to Sheetz for coffee, which is something he loved. According to the Greensboro Police Department, two men were trying to steal ten cases of beer, Nix approached them and one of them shot and killed him.

That shook Nix’s close friend, fellow Sgt. Andy Reed, to the core.

“Dale came to the department shortly after I did. He was always top-notch. Always had a smile on his face,” Reed said.

Meanwhile, Nasi Kajana is the owner of a business called Fortuna Coffee, which is a company that is a full-service coffee supplier. They offer everything from designing a shop to providing all the equipment and coffee you need to stock it.

Nasi never met Nix but felt a need to do something for the family and police community after Nix’s death.

“I have a very good friend on the force, Sgt. Andy Reed, and I called to see what could we do,” Nasi said. “Since we work with coffee, I thought that would be a good idea.”

“I told Nasi about Dale’s love of coffee, and Dale … I always told him I owed him a cup of coffee,” Reed said.

Reed and Nasi had bonded over coffee years before, so it made sense. They came up with something called the Guardian Blend, which is a special coffee dedicated to Nix’s memory and provided hundreds of bags to not just the Nix family but the GPD as well as the department’s Family Victims Unit that Nix led and the Honor Guard he was also involved with.

“A good cup of coffee carries a message,” Nasi said. “A message of comfort, message of love.”

The blend proved so popular that Nasi and Fortuna decided to sell it for the first time with all the proceeds going to Nix’s family.

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