We’ve always tried to recognise local issues as well as the wider ones in coffee - and some are easier to support than others.
Buying coffee through reputable sources helps us make sure action is happening on the ground in the parts of the world we buy coffee from, but there’s also problems our community faces much closer to home.
It can be rough...
Homelessness is a problem everywhere, but it’s very apparent where we have our roastery in Bournemouth. While better known organisations like Shelter do great work and get wide recognition and support, we’ve identified some smaller, grass roots organisations out there doing the good stuff.
We’ve been working closely with Faithworks for a while now, which have a network of projects all working to support the most vulnerable. As well as operating Food Banks, they also have an old furniture collection service and work to give all kinds of advice from financial and debt management, to physical and mental health referral. There’s also a load of training and entry to work programs they run, but we will get to that at a later date.
So what is Half Time?
Half Time is what we are focussed on this Christmas. It’s a program run out of St Michael's Church (which is right around the corner from the roastery.) This place is a drop in service for the homeless and vulnerable in our area and offers hot showers, a safe and secure place to leave personal belongings, toiletries and essential supplies, hot drinks, food vouchers, advice, and in general…help.
It’s an amazing outfit and one we are proud to be supporting. We will be donating all our tips (you can also leave them at online checkout) to Half Time, giving £1 from every bag of Christmas Blend sold, and all proceeds from our Christmas raffle, where we have a big, hefty travel brew kit from Bru-Trek up for grabs, that's worth over £400.
You can leave tips/donations, buy raffle tickets and the Christmas Blend online and in-store.
You could also support their 2024 Rucksack Appeal to help those move on from rough sleeping. More info on how you can help directly, is here.