Suspended Coffee

Suspended Coffee – DCU student Aoife Ryan is driving force behind this initiative

Aoife Ryan, a student on the DCU Masters programme in Education and Training, is the driving force behind the ‘Suspended Coffee’ initiative in Ireland - a non-for-profit initiative whereby customers who purchase a cup of coffee can buy an extra cup which is then ‘donated’ to another customer  free of charge.

According to Aoife, Suspended Coffee is similar to the ‘pay it forward’ concept. “When I’m out in the city and see people on the streets or that are homeless, I prefer to buy them food or a drink rather than give money, so the idea really appealed to me.  I started the facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Suspended-Coffee-Ireland/473755486029171  and the twitter page @suspencoffeeire the morning after I read about the idea of Suspended Coffee, and went public straight away with it.

“The only work done beforehand was asking a friend of mine to create a poster that the shops would be able to print and display in their windows to let people know that the shop was participating in the scheme.  The response from coffee shops was extremely positive.  Focus Ireland, Simon, Peter McVerry Trust, St Vincent  De Paul, Trust, Nova Initiatives and hostels around the country have been spreading the word to people who might avail of the initiative.

“To date there are 47 shops on board all over Ireland both north and south. Some of the shops also provide suspended sandwiches, dinners and soups, which are particularly welcome with the weather getting so cold.  It’s great to see that people will benefit not only from a warm drink but also a meal.

“Soulful in Stoneybatter have been going out handing out the soups in the evening to people on the streets. One of the shops in Cork, Idaho Café, has sold 2,000 suspended coffees, hundreds of which have been claimed already; the unclaimed coffees have amounted to €1,600 which was donated to The Simon Community. Harpers in Limerick, who recently came on board, have sold 75 coffees and have gone out to deliver coffee and sandwiches to people on the streets. 

“With the recession I think people will be more inclined to buy an extra coffee as most of the shops are selling a suspended coffee for €2. People I have spoken to about the idea are happier to buy a suspended coffee than give money in other ways. I honestly am delighted with all the shops that are on board as all of them are independently owned and are local.

If anyone wants to support the Suspended Coffee scheme, they can either buy an extra cup of coffee, or they can tell people about the initiative and encourage their local coffee shops to get on board”.

If anyone would like more information, please contact Aoife on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Suspended-Coffee-Ireland/473755486029171

Twitter: @suspendcoffeeire or email suspendedcoffeeireland@gmail.com