You are here: Home > Get involved > Fundraise for us > Fundraisers gallery > Coffee n Browse sessions a success!

Coffee n Browse sessions a success!

Friends of Farm Burbage with Sarah and Jasper from Farm Africa. Friends of Farm Burbage with Sarah and Jasper from Farm Africa.

Succesful fundraising coffee mornings for Farm Africa

Coffee mornings where local people can gather to browse local crafts and foods have long been a feature of rural life.

But in the Wiltshire village of Burbage, ‘Coffee ‘n Browse’ sessions, run by the Friends of Farm group in Burbage have achieved much more than just fostering a valuable sense of community and outreach. That’s because the group have also managed to raise the incredible sum of nearly £8,000 in nine years for Farm Africa.

Attendees pay just £1.50 for a donut (from a local bakery) and unlimited coffee to come to the sessions where they are able to browse and buy beautiful gifts like jewellery, cards and toiletries (often hand crafted in Burbage) or locally made honey. Each month all proceeds from the morning are collected up and sent to Farm Africa.

The idea for the ‘Coffee ‘n Browse’ sessions came to Sarah Scott who got thinking about how people in Burbage could make a difference in 2005 when the ‘Make Poverty History’ campaign encouraged people to do more to help in the fight against global hunger and poverty. In the same year Sarah also received a Farm Africa goat as a 40th birthday present.

Sarah Scott

I got thinking about how we could do things here in Burbage that would make a real difference to the lives of people thousands of miles away. And then I got the Farm Africa goat and I learned about the charity’s work helping people on the ground to grow more food which seemed a really effective way to me of working to beat hunger. I’m really proud of the way the community I live in has come together to help people in need thousands of miles away.”

Sarah and her team of hugely dedicated helpers, including Cynthia, Joyce, Diana, Karen and 3 Jeans, have kept the Coffee ‘n Browse sessions going ever since. Given the way the Coffee ‘n Browse sessions have had such a positive impact on the lives of communities in eastern Africa, their motto could not be more appropriate:

“Meeting locally but helping families from afar.”

Sarah Goddard and Jasper Schlump from the fundraising team attended the most recent Coffee n Browse session on Friday 1 August and saw the group raise over £150 from their cake-sale, raffle, children’s crafts and of course all of the hardworking volunteers and stall holders.

Farm Africa’s Community Fundraising Manager, Sarah Goddard, said:

“On behalf of all the communities our work is supporting in eastern Africa, I’d like to thank Sarah, her team and everyone that attends for their ongoing generosity. You are truly helping to change lives of farmers in Africa.”

 

Stay up to date with the latest news and projects