Coffee, Fire, and the Good ol’ Aussie Way
/By Caleb Heinselman
There’s no better way to see how our industry can rally around fellow countrymen and coffee lovers than when devastating events happen.
As I am sure most of you already know, Australia has been managing one of the most devastating fire years since 1939 and, more recently, Black Saturday in 2009. The early and devastating start to Australia's bushfire season has led authorities to rate it the worst on record.
Life, property, and whole towns and communities have been lost. A huge population of native fauna have been wiped out or are staggering from the ashes searching for help. But from all this, heroes respond to the call; in this case, they’re the people of these devastated communities, along with all the global charity giving these people and communities hope and support.
The selflessness of the country comes into play as you see a whole nation rally the support to provide all that’s needed to help their fellow Australians.
Needless to say, the coffee industry here in Australia, as well as our international friends, were quick to respond to the call.
We have cafées raising money to support Refugee Legal, Rural Fire Services, and Red Cross bushfire relief funds, to name just a few. If you’d like to support these initiatives, here are some links you may choose to donate to: Australian Red Cross, the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, or the Brigades Donation Fund.
The global support from just the coffee and hospitality industry has been monumental, estimated to be in the millions of dollars at this point.
Here at Five Senses, we’ve stepped up as well to show our love and support.
Ben Bicknell, our Strategic Projects Manager, reached out to our café customers to launch a day of fundraising to support a number of these charities. To date, donations by Five Senses coffee customers have reached $15,994.29 – supported by us with free coffee used in this fundraising – and the number is rising every couple of days.
With our mission to Impact People Positively, it’s times like these that the rubber hits the road as Five Senses and our incredible coffee peers race to help heal and contribute to the hope the people in these devastated communities need so much. It’s times like these that make me proud to be part of a coffee community such as this.
Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected.
More information is available here.
Photo courtesy of Five Senses Coffee on Instagram