A new social enterprise from the Byron Community Centre has just launched, which aims to support local women in moving out of disadvantage and help them with work training and experience.
Coffee BOX is a converted shipping container located on Jonson Street, alongside the Community Centre and aims to raise funds from coffee sales.
General manager of the centre Cr Paul Spooner says, ‘All profits from the BOX will go back into the community, funding vital community services and providing training for local women.’
Alarming increase
‘The Coffee BOX will be offering a ‘pay it forward’ scheme, so anyone can buy a coffee at the BOX for someone in need – because an act of kindness can change a life.’
Cr Spooner says the Coffee BOX training project was developed due to increasing levels of disadvantage faced by women in the Shire.
Celeste Harris, community worker at the Centre says, ‘We have seen an alarming increase in the number of women approaching our service for help.
‘Women are an extremely vulnerable group in Byron, due mainly to increasing employment difficulties and high housing affordability stress. Women are also one of the fastest growing groups experiencing homelessness, both in Byron Bay and across Australia.’
The training project is a partnership between the Byron Community Centre, the SHIFT Project Byron Bay and Liberation Larder.
Would love it if they had a big cauldron of soup that you could buy to pay it forward for homeless (as is done in Melbourne) or women in need. A hearty bowl of soup can sustain someone more than a coffee and I’d be mch more inclined to pay it forward buying this than a cup of coffee.