By Lauren Hermon
It’s the Adelaide café where you decide how much to pay for a coffee – it can be five cents or $50, the choice is yours.
With a ‘pay-what-you-can-afford’ system, Hope’s Café in Beulah Park also serves up guitar lessons, and even English classes for Iranian, Korean and Afghani students.
“Everyone is the same; no one is stigmatised,” says David Winderlich, Uniting Communities Spire community manager.
Hope’s Café, a joint project between Uniting Communities and the Clayton Wesley Uniting Church, is a place where people can come together to “help each other make a better community”.
“We established the café because many asylum seekers, as well as everyday South Australians in financial hardship, were looking for our emergency relief services, ” David says.
“They weren’t allowed to work, didn’t have money and they were traumatised adjusting to a new community,” he adds.
Hope’s Café is completely self-funded and driven by community support.
“People started walking through the door; English teachers turned up and we started training people to become baristas,” he says.
People donate what they can to ensure everyone can enjoy a coffee, a piece of cake, some soup and a bread roll.
Hope’s Café runs on a ‘pay-what-you-can-afford’ system (Photo: Mikey Nicholson)
Since the café opened a couple of years ago, support services have expanded.
“We’ve just started an employment program where we’re helping people find jobs,” David says.
“There are also law students who drop in and provide migration information to those who need it.
“It would be good to see more cafés like this in the community and regional areas, and even around the country… I think Adelaide is testing the concept well.”
The innovative way Uniting Communities is helping people who need it most is paving the way for unbiased and non-judgemental support.
“You don’t feel bad if you have to come here, so it’s about creating a community where no one needs to feel ashamed,” say David.
“It’s not just about standard welfare needs; it’s about community connection, support and the opportunities it can bring… we’re proving how we can do things differently; it’s part of a missing piece in how we can help people.”
Uniting Communities is a Brand South Australia member.