This year’s annual CafeSmart event will take on a global initiative with local reach, and it’s calling on the coffee community to dig deep in the fight against homelessness.
To be truly sustainable is about more than just the environment. According to non-profit organisation StreetSmart, having a social responsibility and considering the impact on staff, suppliers and communities is one small step Australian businesses can take to make a large impact.
For 18 years, StreetSmart Australia has been developing campaigns to help people experiencing homelessness and work towards ending homelessness. Over the past decade, StreetSmart’s industry- recognised coffee event CafeSmart has helped raise $1.5 million to support more than 1000 grassroots homelessness projects. Each year, cafés and coffee drinkers across the country gather to raise funds for their local homelessness organisations and services.
CafeSmart community project grants provide vital aid and practical resources to organisations caring for some of society’s most vulnerable people. This directly contributes to the aims of many of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which support social sustainability at the community level.
They include the goal to end extreme poverty; end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture; ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages; achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls; and reduce inequality within and among countries.
StreetSmart Australia CEO and Founder Adam Robinson says these goals have given many companies and communities a framework for looking at sustainability holistically.
“At StreetSmart, our team supports all 17 SDGs and believes in the power of community to make the goals a reality,” Adam says. “We’re proud to be playing our part in creating the world we want to live in but know that we all must do more and strive to solve the big issues facing the world.”
Through CafeSmart, roasters, cafés, coffee businesses and consumers have the opportunity to take action and support their local community. From 2 to 8 August, cafés will invite customers to donate the extra cost of a cup of coffee. On 6 August, cafés will donate $1 per coffee sold. For the third year, Vitasoy is the Principal Sponsor of CafeSmart, and is also supported by Broadsheet, La Marzocco and BeanScene.
In 2020, generous donations were used to support local grassroots initiatives. This included a grant to deliver back-to- school supplies to vulnerable children of families fleeing domestic violence through The Northern Centre. A grant was also enacted to support the Byron Community Centre Homeless Shower program, providing basic hygiene service twice a week. Another grant helped provide essential baby and children’s items to social service organisations across Tasmania that work with vulnerable and at-risk children through Tassie Mums.
This year marks the 11th year of CafeSmart. To join as a roaster partner or café for Australia’s industry recognised coffee movement CafeSmart and help make a difference to your local community, visit: streetsmartaustralia.org/cafesmart
For further information, contact Cynthia Mac Caddon, Partnerships Manager, StreetSmart Australia on: cynthia@ streetsmartaustralia.org or 0423 814 799.
This article appears in the June 2021 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.
