Blog Layout
Back with a BANG!
The "Cafe Y" Feeling...
Arriving at Café Y, our wonderful young waitress, Tash, takes your order. Meanwhile, Ben, our amazing new volunteer, brews your coffee, blended by the infamous Reformatory Caffine Lab in Surry Hills – what a treat.
Out of the corner of your eye, you notice the ‘Homelessness to Hospitality’ story displayed on the wall, explaining how every cent spent at Café Y helps to transform the life of a young person in your community. You order dessert too.
Surrounded by familiar faces, compassionate community members with the same desire to help those less fortunate, you take a seat.
Your coffee arrives in a colourful mug, in keeping with the vibrant pop-art theme. You take a sip, pleased with the option to have either Bonsoy or Milklab dairy alternatives, which complement the aromatic coffee perfectly.
Service with a smile, Tash sets down your plate of smashed avocado, fresh tomatoes, feta and perfectly poached egg with yolk dripping down the side of the crusty sourdough slice. Knife and fork in hand, you dig in. How good is that bread? Made with love by the Bread and Butter Project, a social enterprise bakery supporting the training of refugees. You smile.
You bump into Project Youth’s friendly team member Karen, who tells you the story of Nina, a young person who grew in confidence during the Café’s Hospitality Course, which encouraged her to pursue a career as a nurse. ‘Wow – my breakfast really does help to nourish potential’, you think.
You savour the last mouthful, and the final sip of coffee. ‘One for the road’, asks Tash, holding up a colourful takeaway coffee cup. ‘I’ll take a muffin too’, you reply.
Clutching your coffee in hand, you wave goodbye to the Café’s friendly team. As you step in to the brisk winter air, you are filled with a warm sense of pride, knowing that your delicious smashed avo, vanilla latte, and your raspberry and chocolate muffin helped to change someone’s life nearby.
If you could bottle that feeling, that warmth in your heart and the pit of your stomach, it would be more expensive than gold. Sure, like every other café, you get great coffee and you get great food But Café Y brings a sense of pure joy that you just can’t get anywhere else. Chase that feeling. Visit Café Y again, and again.
Thank you for supporting our Café. Thank you for changing the lives of local young people by making Café Y your regular coffee, breakfast and lunch spot.
We were truly overwhelmed by the community’s turnout at the reopening. You came in your hundreds. You came with empty bellies, on a mission to help local young people facing disadvantage. No chair, not even the bar stools, were left empty, and the buzz of a busy community café was music to our ears.
You met with old friends and marvelled at the vibrant new mural, you bathed in wintery sunshine in the courtyard, and you debated which delicious dish you would try first.
Above all, you left with a smile on your face.
See you again tomorrow, and every day after that.
Project Youth helps young people deal with and get through difficult situations.
Project Youth acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we work. We acknowledge that this always was and always will be Aboriginal land and we pay our respects to Elders past, present & future.
