Well it's that time of year again when cafes across the nation rally to raise funds to fight homelesses.... on August 3, 2018 participating cafes will unite over their favourite brew to help fund local homeless services through the donation of $1 from every coffee sold.
Homelessness affects all communities and is one of the most pressing social issues we face today and we want to do something to change this. How can you get involved? By coming along to Pioneer Coffee Roastery, or any other participating cafe, and match (or even better, beat) our donation.
This will be Pioneer Coffee Roastery’s fourth CafeSmart – and we are hoping to make it our best fundraising effort to date. Funds raised by Pioneer Coffee Roastery and other participating Sunshine Coast cafes have contributed directly to local organisations, such as Sunny Kids - and we have a lot of fun doing it!
Customers and cafes are encouraged to take photos and post them on social media with prizes for best photo (one of which was won by Pioneer Coffee Roastery in 2017!). We'll be dressing up in yellow, so come get your photo taken with us!
According to 2016 Census data, on any given night, around 115,000 people in Australia are without a safe and secure place to call home. The situation is dire, with older women the fastest growing cohort, many finding themselves homeless for the first time. The housing system is broken, and homelessness can happen to anyone. Despite the growing critical need, many homelessness services are underfunded or have lost funding.
“We know that on any given night 116,000 people are homelessness, and that number is likely to be much higher. The Australian Institute of Social Welfare suggests as many as 261 are turned away every day because homeless services just cannot cope. The current crisis is the outcome of poor decisions on housing, social security, job security, and the basic protections of the social safety net, and it will take serious work to recover. CafeSmart is really reflection of a very concerned Australian community wanting to do something, and to put funding back into the sector.” – Adam Robinson – CEO, StreetSmart Australia.