Good karma coffee beating the grind

FEELING the love after handing out free coffees in Black Hill during lockdown, Martin Anderson is onto his next charitable project.

Teaming up with Ragazzone, the aim of his new initiative is to sell coffees, cannoli’s and takeaway food to continue raising money for charity.

Months earlier during the first lockdown, Mr Anderson said after losing his work he decided to set up a pop-up coffee spot for the community with his newfound spare time.

“For the free coffee spot, I built that coffee cart a while back and I posted a photo of it on my Instagram and I got a heap of messages saying it as a great idea and when does it open,” he said.

“I just decided to do some free coffees because everyone was struggling and there was no work and no money going around.

“I thought it would be good for the little community of Black Hill and I wasn’t expecting it to go as far as it did, it kind of took off.”

Initially planning to simply provide free coffees for nearby residents, the project quickly pivoted towards raising money for a charity as well.

Having faced his own neurological issues, Mr Anderson said he selected Moondreamz which supports the neurology department at the Royal Children’s Hospital as his charity of choice.

“I have a mate who runs the Moondreamz charity and he came the first day to help me out and stayed for three days,” he said.

“We were doing free coffees and then encouraging small donations towards Moondreams which is a cause that means a lot to me.

“People were amazing, we ended up raising around $3000 at the coffee cart which I did in around five or six days.”

From there, the idea to continue making coffees and raising money for Moondreamz at Ragazzone came organically.

Mr Anderson said they floated the idea of hosting a weekly charity drive at the restaurant while owner, Drew Harry, was helping him out at his pop-up coffee station.

“Drew popped in to the coffee cart and ended up working there one day and we had a bit of fun,” he said.

“He was already looking into doing something like that so it was a great opportunity for us both to team up for Moondreamz.

“Last Saturday we did, it was pumping and although it’s hard with COVID restrictions, it was great to see everyone abiding by the rules and grabbing some cannoli and a coffee.”

With the weekly Karma Coffee events proving successful so far, Mr Anderson said they have plans to continue them into the foreseeable future.

“I think we are looking at doing some different charities in the future, we’re going to keep going on the Saturday though,” he said.

“COVID has thrown everyone around, like with my coffee cart and with Ragazzone it’s been good to just give people something to do, even if it’s only 10 minutes out of the day.

“The support from the local community has just blown me away.”

From humble beginnings handing out coffees in Black Hill to running charity events at Ragazzone, local businesses Inglenook Diary and Karon Farm Coffee have been a huge help along the way.

Although raising significant funds for charity has been rewarding, Mr Anderson said throughout it all the community spirit he’s experienced here in Ballarat has been the most uplifting part of it all.

“I endorsed the first day myself at the coffee cart and then after that Inglenook Diary they brought milk and Karon Farm Coffee from Ballarat donated the coffee beans,” he said.

“All these businesses wanted to get involved and I offered to pay them but they just wanted to help out and get involved for the charity.

“Even more than that though, these businesses and the neighbours just wanted to get involved and help out the community, which is how this all started.”

To learn more about Moondreamz or to donate visit mycause.com.au.