Help our community cafe KindaKafe reopen

Aim

To help KindaKafe reopen so it can continue its important work of building communities and reducing loneliness and social isolation

KindaKafe is a much loved community cafe in the heart of Norwich which celebrates its 4th birthday in July. It's part of the Missing Kind charitable network and exists to build communities and reduce loneliness and social isolation in Norwich.

We host a range of community groups, peer support groups and activities throughout the year, often run by dedicated volunteers who share their skills, interests and experiences for the benefit of others.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic KindaKafe Norwich was forced to close its doors in March. Our revenue streams stopped overnight resulting in a loss of at least £55,000 so far. The Government has announced that cafes can reopen from 4 July but we can't reopen without making substantial changes to the layout of our community cafe and kitchen to ensure we can operate safely in accordance with the Government's Covid-secure guidance.

Social distancing requirements will also seriously effect our footfall and currently as a small charity and social enterprise, we receive very little in grant funding and donations and rely heavily on our trading activities to keep us afloat.

We're asking for your help in raising funds to support KindaKafe to reopen so it can continue it's important work in providing much needed support to the community of Norwich.

The funds will be used to:

• Remove a stud partition wall, which currently divides our café in two, so that we can create a larger open plan space where social distancing can be safely observed.
• Extend and refurbish our kitchen so that it is fit for purpose and will enable our staff and volunteers to work safely alongside each other and also develop new products for sale including a new takeaway menu.
• Gradually bring back members of staff from furlough leave in order to implement new safety measures and lead on the development of new products.
• Provide further training in health and safety and cookery for staff and volunteers.
• Produce new marketing materials to re-launch the café and our popular Hidden History tours.
• Install new safety measures including hand sanitising stations and signage.

This will mean we can adapt our trading activities, continue our journey to sustainability and reopen our venue for community use once it's safe to do so. We will also be able to continue offering supportive employment and volunteering opportunities to vulnerable and disadvantaged individuals.

Before the pandemic, our work at KindaKafe was really helping to make a difference to people's lives by combating loneliness and social isolation and supporting the creation of meaningful social connections. Your help will enable us to adapt our support so we can continue making a difference.

If you're able to donate to help us fund these changes it would mean the world to us. Thank you.

Click here to read the Eastern Daily Press’ feature on our campaign on 6 July

This project successfully funded on 24th August 2020