Londoners are contributing their morning coffee habit to a job training program for the homeless.
“Change Please” sells hot coffee at mobile carts around the city while brewing up a brighter future training homeless people to be baristas.
GRAB A MORNING COFFEE AND OPEN OUR GOOD NEWS APP—> Download FREE for Android and iOS
Cemal Ezel, who runs the Old Spike Roastery teamed up with The Big Issue magazine, which already helps the homeless earn money by selling magazines on the street.
The innovative enterprise pairs Ezel’s expertise in the coffee business with this working network of homeless folks, like cream and sugar enhance a morning cup of Joe.
Every fresh cup of #coffee brewed on our #ChangePlease carts changes lives. More info: https://t.co/sW8xo0KAWO pic.twitter.com/3yUc9VGlXh
— Change Please (@ChangePlease) November 26, 2015
The dark green carts are popping up in eight locations around London, selling “ethically-sourced” coffee for about $3.50 a cup. Change Please baristas earn the city’s living wage — about $13.00 an hour — while learning skills that can land them permanent jobs in the food and beverage industry.
Jatinder Budwal, who took a barista job with Change Please in December, has been able to use his earnings to move off the street.
RELATED: Cafe Serves Up Second Chances to Homeless Youth in Denver
“I saved up my wages and I was lucky enough to find a little room to rent,” he tells The Big Issue. “It makes me smile every time I jump in the shower, or use the toaster, or open the fridge and take some food out to eat.”
The slogan of this social enterprise is, “Baristas Wanted, No Home Needed.”
(WATCH the video from ITV News below) — Photo via Change Please on Facebook
Share the Idea…