Fridays are for free coffee

TWO Ballarat businesses are teaming up to give back to the community and provide free coffees every Friday in October.

Amba Walker from not-for-profit disability employment service EGF Solutions said she decided to join forces with Kyllie Garrett from local coffee van Kombi for a Cause for the initiative.

“We’re newer to Ballarat, the disability side of things, and we wanted to give back to the community and get our name out there at the same time,” she said.

“We thought what better way, going through COVID and everything, to give away some free coffees to give everybody a bit of a break.

“What we did is once we decided we wanted to do that, I got in contact with Kyllie from Kombi for a Cause and we came up with the idea of giving 100 free coffees every Friday in October.”

While EGF Solutions are covering the cost of the coffees, Kombi for a Cause is not only giving up their time and resources but will also donate 10 per cent of profits to the Ballarat Autism Network.

Ms Walker said it was rewarding to work with such community centred businesses as Kombi for a Cause to extend a helping hand to those in need.

“What we’re trying to do is give back to the people who may have lost their job or been put on hold due to COVID, or simply can’t afford to buy a nice coffee,” she said.

“That’s why we wanted to go in all those different places so we would reach a more broader range of the community, not just one little spot in one area.”

Having previously opened shop in two different locations, the free coffee van is set to operate from the Wendouree Neighbourhood Centre on 16 October, St Patricks Point around the Lake 23 October and the Inclusion Park Sturt Street 30 October.

So far, Ms Walker said they’ve received lots of great feedback from visitors and community members.

“It was really good, we were at the Inclusion Park in Victoria Park for the first time and we had lots of positive feedback,” she said.

“Everyone was quite grateful to have a free coffee and we had a fantastic response.

“Hopefully now word will get around a little, hopefully the momentum builds and people will know we will be somewhere every Friday in October.”