CafeSmart is an event that brings us together over a coffee, or your favourite brew, tackling homelessness and directly making a positive change in our local communities #drinkcoffeedogood. Back in August, 285 Cafes and 45 Coffee Roasters partnered up with StreetSmart Australia for CafeSmart 2021, and it couldn’t have taken place under more difficult conditions, responding to immediate lockdowns and uncertainty about how this event would run. However, our coffee industry partners came through with an incredible effort to help us raise $169,000, funding 96 community grants to support vulnerable people struggling with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Café owners, such as Marie Chan and her team at Goodies Takeaway in Melbourne, signed up and engaged with their customers to help raise donations for local grassroots organisations, who are struggling for additional support and funding. Marie was our 2021 top cafe fundraiser and with her customer’s donations has directly supported a grant of $2500 for ‘Bridge It’ – a local charity helping young women.
“As a new charity, supporting young women experiencing homelessness, we are relying on grants and donations to be able to operate. The funds we will receive from CafeSmart will support the two new residential programs we are opening in St Kilda. Creating homes for women is at the heart of what we aim to do at Bridge It and we couldn’t do this without this support. Thank you to all the cafes and supporters who made this possible” said Carla Raynes, CEO, of Bridge It.
These latest localised CafeSmart Community Grants are funding practical support for vulnerable people, at a time when community organisations and domestic violence services are all reporting increased demand for their help.
The latest lockdowns, rising rental costs, the end of welfare supplements and unpredictable work have all impacted people’s lives and capacity to pay bills, put food on the table for their families and find affordable housing to live in. This is why the CafeSmart Community Grants are so important, helping people in crisis, right now.
Grants were made across Australia, stretching from Hobart, Darwin, Margaret River, Byron Bay and plenty along the east coast.