A group of young entrepreneurs from Melbourne are behind the exciting
new project called Crêpes for Change. "We are creating a social
enterprise in the form of a crêpe van, with 100% of the profits to go
toward eliminating youth homelessness in Australia" says Dan Poole,
founder of the initiative.
Despite the wealth of opportunities to be had in our lucky country, the sad reality is that not everyone starts off on the same playing-field. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there are over 40,000 young people sleeping rough in Australia every night.
The problem is more complex than young people simply being without a permanent place of residence. Homelessness is a symptom of deeper underlying disadvantage, including the lack of other necessities such as a loving family, inspiring teachers and mentors, support from their community and people who believe in them.
"It’s heartbreaking to see people unable to leverage themselves out of a bad situation. As well as raising much-needed funds from sale of our crêpes and coffee, we will also run a program to provide hospitality and barista training to those that need it. This level of support will allow young Australians that are homeless, or at risk of homelessness, to gain the skills needed to find employment and prosper on their own.
Although the objective and business model are clear, the group of dedicated individuals need to raise more money to achieve the high impact they are preparing for. "We’re running a crowd-funding campaign to help raise the funds to build the van, and are already in talk with sponsors who are interested in contributing." says Dan.
The campaign is set at 60 days, and in that time $10,000 needs to be raised to bring the idea to life. Supporters can benefit from a range of awards for contributing, such as crêpe vouchers, the right to have their name written on the van, or even have the team host your next party or event with an unlimited supply of crêpes and coffee for guests.
"This will require a collective effort, and we’ll need to get people talking about it".
Crowd-funding campaign (main link): https://chuffed.org/project/crepesforchange
Website: http://crepesforchange.com
Facebook page: facebook.com/crepesforchange
Instagram account: @crepesforchange
