Today marks the inaugural CafeSmart day across Australia. The fundraiser initiated by StreetSmart calls on cafes to rally in support of the homeless by donating $1 from every coffee sold. One hundred per cent of donations will go to agencies directly assisting those who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
The cafe community has jumped behind the project, with over 170 cafes signing up. “It’s brilliant how many small businesses have put their hand up to help,” says StreetSmart founder and CEO Adam Robinson. “This is the first time we’ve run CafeSmart so we had no idea how big it could be.”
But it’s not just about the money. “It’s also about raising awareness in the community and bringing people together,” says Robinson. We’ve heard the statistics before but it’s still hard to swallow the fact that every night across Australia more than 100,000 people are homeless, and of these, 14,000 sleep rough.
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SIGN UPStreetSmart is an organisation that tackles homelessness at a grassroots level. They provide smaller ‘harder to reach agencies’ with grants that allow them to assist homeless people and those who are at risk of becoming homeless on a number of levels.
Coffee roasters Allpress, DiBella, Five Senses, St Ali and Seven Seeds have also come on board to support the project, offering participating cafes discounted beans for the day.
Here’s our recommended list of cafes that are taking part:
A Minor Place
Auction Rooms
Campos Coffee
Coin Laundry
Duchess of Spotswood
Dukes
Friends Of Mine
Il Forniao
Little Wish
Manchester Press
Miss Jackson
Palomino
Pillar of Salt
Porgie and Mr Jones
Sensory Lab
Seven Seeds
Snow Pony
Social Roasting Company
St Ali
The First Pour
Three Bags Full
Wallice and Ed