Picture – Community of Purpose

From June 1st we stopped issuing single use disposable cups for our takeaway hot drinks. Instead, we are asking customers to bring their own reusable cups or you can buy or borrow one from us.

By not issuing cups, we will be saving the cost of a cup and lid (9.1p per takeaway hot drink) each time. We’ve committed to donating this saving (and have rounded it up to a nice even 10p) to local community projects around our cafes.

This is who we’ll be supporting:

Bristol –

Community of Purpose
We will be supporting from all our Bristol cafes. 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 would help to improve children’s agility, balance, coordination and concentration.

In the short term whilst we help establish these, we are working with Community of Purpose on their ‘Break Free’ programme this summer – it is 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 them to help get these kids along to take part in the activities and at the same time getting them something to eat.

Bath –

Genesis Trust
Genesis support disadvantaged and vulnerable people in the Bath area, offering opportunities for them to make healthy choices and improve their lives and prospects. Providing a range of practical and empowering support services to the local community across 10 different projects, providing welfare support, personal encouragement, and training and work experience. Trained staff and volunteer teams mobilised from local churches and the wider community help deliver these services.

Alfred Street have been championing this charity for the past few months and will be working with them moving forward with the Kingsmead team too.
From collections of toiletries, fundraising Wolf Runs and weekly volunteering, this is a great partnership that the team have established and we hope we can take it further.

Exeter –

Changing Horizons
The Exeter partnership with RO is being led by our Assistant Manager Kaz. RO use music and art events to put smiles on people’s faces and help spread Mental Health awareness.
We’ll be looking to work with them as much as possible from supporting events, hosting fundraisers and generally helping to encourage conversations about mental health.

Honiton -

The Project
The Project is a peer support network that has been set up to support young people age 13-24 with mental health issues, and their parents and carers. Based in Axminster and Chard, this is a free service open to young people and their parents and carers from across East Devon, South Somerset and West Dorset.

Plymouth -

Plymouth Beach Clean
Instead of having a few charities to choose from the general consensus amongst the BTP Plymouth team is that we all want to get behind the beach clean volunteers and help to get new equipment to enable them to carry on with the fantastic work they do.
This will also allow us to donate our time to help out with regular collections. The first staff beach clean is in June.
This partnership fits wonderfully with the cup ban/introduction of paper straws/removal of plastic water bottles and the team are so passionate about Making Things Better with them!

Barnstaple –

Surfers Against Sewage
As we are very close to the beach in Barnstaple, the team felt passionately about working with a charity that helps protect their environment locally.
SAS help with organised beach cleans, school programmes and government lobbying plus much more to help protect our beaches and seas from pollution.

Ringwood –

The Sheiling School
This was suggested by our chef Robin, as his family are heavily involved with the school.
They specialise in autism and communication difficulties, severe and complex learning disabilities and challenging behaviour.
Set in a stunning sustainable and eco-friendly 40-acre site close to the New Forest and Dorset coastline, the natural surroundings of our school and college provide a rich, enabling and therapeutic learning environment for students, aged 6-25, who have a special educational need.

Salisbury –

The Stars Appeal
A great local charity doing amazing work – The Stars Appeal is Salisbury District Hospital’s Charity, and they are aiming to raise at least £1million this year to enhance care across all wards and departments and to help thousands of local people get better faster, return home sooner and to have a more positive hospital experience.
Every ward and department has their own separate fund within the Stars Appeal, so we will be choosing a specific one to support that is close to the team’s heart.

Worcester –

Stew, our General Manager, and the team have been doing a great amount of work in their local area for a variety of causes.
Stew has been holding regular cookery classes for his local school (St Barnabus) where his two kids attend. The school stopped running cookery as part of their curriculum last year due to budget cuts, so Stew and Harley (our Kitchen Manager) took it upon themselves to run sessions for the kids across a few age groups. They did this in their own time to really help make an impact for the kids.
More are planned on an ongoing basis, along with event support and further fundraising efforts.

Harborne -

Harborne Parish Lands
A local charity, who provide grants and sheltered accommodation for older or vulnerable people or those with restricted mobility living in Harborne.
We will be working with them in as many ways possible to ensure that we are helping to Make Things Better in our local area.

Birmingham –

Teenage Cancer Trust
We are based around the corner from the children’s hospital in Birmingham and one of the charities we have been supporting are Teenage Cancer Trust. They’re the only UK charity providing support to young people with cancer.

Edgbaston –

Let’s Feed Brum
Helping provide food, drink and essential supplies and friendship to those living on our streets. Birmingham’s homeless community is the second largest in the UK, with 1,152 registered cases so we’re working with Let’s Feed Brum to help tackle this.

Solihull –

KITES
Our Solihull team are working with KITES, which is part of KIDS.
Based in Castle Bromwich, KITES offers a school and social club for 14-25 year olds in the Solihull area. The after school club focuses on planning a meal together, budgeting for ingredients, shopping / buying the ingredients, preparing the meal safely and eating together. With the social club, they invite the young people to decide as a group the activities they would like to take part in, then facilitate the running of the activity.

Cheltenham –

Maggies Charity
Maggies is there for anyone and everyone affected by cancer, offering a programme of support that has been shown to strengthen physical and emotional wellbeing.
We have been in contact with them for a while and will be looking to support their events, fundraising and to hold events in the café.

Stratford -

Karl (our General Manager) has been working with his local community in a variety of ways over the past couple of years, from hosting a weekly children’s story time to craft sessions with local designers. But the relationship that has had the most impact is with the local school, Bridgetown.
Over the past two years Karl has helped them to reinstate cookery classes to the curriculum. We now host regular sessions for the children in the cafes, plus support across all events, forging strong links with the PTA.

__________________________________________________________________________________

We will be working with these projects for the foreseeable future, but we are always on the lookout for other suggestions on who to support, so do get in touch via [email protected]