Did you know that every time you buy a takeaway hot drink from one of our cafes, we donate 10p to local community projects? This comes from the money we save from not issuing single-use cups and lids, and the cafes have chosen local projects that they want to support with their donations.

When it came to deciding who to support in Bristol, we chose to combine the donations from our six cafes so we could have a bigger impact with one project. I was very keen for us to support Community of Purpose. We have been providing cakes and prizes for them over the past few years, mainly around their Bristol Young Heroes Awards, but I always wanted us to do more.

Their aim as a charity is to help unlock the potential in individuals, families and communities that may not have the opportunities available to them. They are incredible at what they do and Amy, who heads up COP is such an amazingly driven person to help as many as they possibly can.

Whilst Community of Purpose support a whole host of initiatives, our long-term aim is to work with them to help establish breakfast clubs at schools in need, to help children get a meal before they start the day. Breakfast clubs are about more than healthy eating. They improve attendance and concentration, as well as social skills. We want to provide qualified instructors, coaches and playtime leaders who can help to organise and supervise activities. These activities help to improve children’s agility, balance, coordination and concentration. This will be something that we are hopeful some of our key suppliers will join us in. It will become an ongoing programme and sits beautifully with our manifesto of ‘always having time for breakfast’.

In the short term whilst we help establish these, we have been supporting their ‘Break Free’ programme this summer – a school holiday programme that provides high-quality activities and free food for young people aged 8-12 years old from across areas of most need in South Bristol. These kids get free school meals in term time, but in the holidays go hungry, so we are supporting Community of Purpose to help get these kids along to take part in the activities and at the same time getting them something to eat. And it’s not just the 10p donations, all of HQ pitched in earlier this month to make sandwiches for the kids attending the programmes. Whilst our production line was on point and the whole team got behind it, it also helped highlight how many children were needed to be helped.

We can’t wait to see the breakfast club programme take shape and will be working hard to get these set up. In the meantime, we would love you to help support Community of Purpose, either by visiting their website or simply by buying a takeaway hot drink.