It’s one day that can make a whole lot of difference. Cafes and coffee lovers alike came together on August 8 for Cafe Smart. With 410 cafes, 18 coffee roasters and thousands of coffee drinkers working together, a record breaking $120,263 (up from $83,950 in 2013) was raised to fund grassroots homeless projects.
For every coffee sold on the day, cafes donated $1 and coffee roasters helped out supplying beans. It all came together for 2014 with terrific support from our main sponsor Vitasoy, our media supporters including Broadsheet, Beanscene, GRAM Magazine, YELP, Beanhunter, The Weekend Edition, and with a great new logo and collateral produced by Clear Design and PR support from Stellar Concepts.
Adam Robinson CEO of StreetSmart Australia said “We can’t thank the cafés, roasters, supporters and sponsors enough for making CaféSmart such a great annual event, and a fundraising success. Having over 400 small businesses involved during National Homeless Persons Week, creating a huge buzz on social media, and getting involved and fundraising was great to see. Yet again the hospitality sector, and in particular the coffee industry, has shown just how generous and community minded they are.”
One hundred percent of the tally will now go back to the community to fund smaller charities and organizations who often don’t have the resources to fundraise themselves. StreetSmart will now distribute the funds raised locally, to provide emergency aid including food and shelter, as well as projects that promote social inclusion, empowerment and sustainable change for some of our most disadvantaged neighbours.
Hundreds of Victorian cafes got behind the initiative, with Melbourne’s Top Paddock named Victoria’s biggest fundraiser, with Mt Grazier and Wide Open Road taking the second and third spots. Nationally, Western Australian cafe, Yelo was awarded the top fundraiser honour.
Also this year the team had some fun asking cafes to try to raise more than their previous best year (our 2014 ‘Beat Your Best’ Award). This year was taken out by Sample Coffee with runners up Corinthians. Other top performers were Sunriser Espresso, Toby Estate Melbourne and MitteCafé. The 2014 Best New Participant Award was Knight’s Coffee & Tea Co with runners up Mr Grazier.
| The Coffee Roaster Award | |
| Champions 2014: | Campos Coffee |
| Runners up: | Five Senses Coffee |
See a full list of Award winners here.