Artisan, a group of four successful coffee shops in South West London and a training school, smashed its £10k fundraising target during its charity Donation Day, which was held across all four of its locations. Customers were asked to donate rather than pay towards goods received on Wednesday 7th September. With no additional costs to pay thanks to the kind coffee industry support of suppliers and employees who donated their services for free, the total funds raised (£11,062) will go directly to the small local community charity LIDEFO in Uganda which inspired the business plan for Artisan.
Artisan owners Edwin and Magda Harrison volunteered in Uganda working for LIDEFO to raise funds to build a vocational educational college helping youths and young women aged 18-30 years old to secure qualification in professions that will help them gain employment such as journalism, hairdressing, secretarial and even bee-keeping. Liberty College which originally taught classes under a tree was transferred to a new building with four classrooms for over 300 students. The funds raised will develop another level on the existing structure providing four additional classrooms to teach a further 200 students.
“We’re incredibly delighted with the brilliant effort of everyone involved to help make this success” said Artisan owner Edwin Harrison. “The atmosphere across all four shops was buzzing – from the team to the customers we served – there was such positivity to help those less fortunate with opportunities to improve their livelihoods through education. We are extremely grateful for the company’s success over the past five year and wanted to pay thanks to an amazing volunteering experience which truly changed our lives.”
In a wonderful demonstration of generosity within the coffee industry, all of Artisan’s suppliers donated their supplies for free that day including Allpress (coffee), Allan Reader (milk/diary), Seven Seeded (pastries and bread) The Artisan Bakery (muffins) and Cake Lovers Ltd (cakes). Even their own energetic staff worked for free for this event across sites in Putney, Stamford Brook, Ealing and East Sheen.