A cuppa for charities Cafes join crusade to end homelessness across Far North region

l CAIRNS REGION

| Isabella Guzman Gonzalez

YOUR daily cup of coffee can be extra meaningful, with seven selected cafes across Cairns donating $1 to homelessness charities for every cup you drink today.

Blackbird Espresso in the CBD and Bungalow, Sipping Duck in Stratford and Portsmith, and The Coffee Club in Cairns Central, Smithfield Centre and Redlynch Central have joined the CafeSmart initiative for homelessness dedicating a week to raising awareness with a distinctive yellow campaign and culminating today (August 4) where the cafes will donate $1 for every and any cup of coffee Cairns residents drink at their shops.

The CafeSmart initiative, which has raised almost $2 million since its inception in 2011, by not-for-profit StreetSmart Australia has headlined 680 cafes across Australia to commemorate Homelessness Week 2023 (August 1-7) by raising funds and awareness for grassroots homeless charities like Shelter Housing Action Cairns (SHAC).

The charities that will receive the donations are yet to be announced.

Blackbird Espresso manager

Ally Cockrell said this was a crucial cause to support, espe- cially now. “The main reason why I wanted to get involved is because the country is going through a cost-of-living crisis, I think it’s really easy to turn a blind eye, but I think the best is to get behind the community and show our support,” Ms Cockrell said.

“We don’t have a goal in mind, we just want to raise as much as possible. The more money we raise the better and we just want to create this mindset where our community gets involved and wants to make positive change.”

Last year CafeSmart donations supported SHAC’s crisis accommodation services, with SHAC reporting that “housing challenges are the biggest challenges facing our clients, being able to get somewhere to live and being able to sustain the property.” CafeSmart funding helped SHAC set up the crisis houses with essential white goods like microwaves.

From an iced latte to a cappuccino, an espresso or a flat white, any type of coffee will go towards the campaign and the venues will have QR codes for people who want to donate extra and yellow posters with resources to raise awareness.

Vollies to thank for wetlands

l SMITHFIELD

SMITHFIELD’S Cattana Wetlands have been transformed into a wildlife haven over the past 10 years thanks to the thousands of hours of volunteer work by the Jabirus group.

An official open day, as well as a celebration of past 10 years of hard work by the group, will be held tomorrow (Saturday, August 5).

At the open day, residents can find out more about the history, flora and fauna of the wetlands.

The Jabirus Group has spent 20,000 hours tackling weeds, planting thousands of trees and shrubs, installing nesting boxes for possums and generally beautifying the area, as part of the Cairns Regional Council’s Green Space Our Place volunteer programme.

Mayor Bob Manning said that since Cattana Wetlands was bought by the former Mulgrave Shire Council in 1993, the site had gone from strength-tostrength.

“Homelessness does not discriminate, it can affect absolutely anyone and this shouldn’t be happening, there needs to be some changes made, so if everyone can get behind CafeSmart and show some support we can make a difference,” Ms Cockrell said.

For more information, visit www.streetsmartaustralia. org/ cafesmart/

“Our predecessor council had the foresight to purchase the Cattana area to preserve 30 hectares of lowland rainforest,” he said.

The open day will include Botany For Kids: 8.30am to 9.10am, boardwalk tours: 9.30am to 10.10am, and 11am to 11.40am, and birdspotting from the jetty: 8.30am to 9.10am, and 9.30am to 10.10am.