Cairns coffee: Sipping Duck and Coffee Club cafes to donate money from each coffee sale to homelessness cause

Cairns cafes will participate in the CafeSmart initiative that raises vital funds for homelessness charities through coffee sales. Here’s how you can get involved.

WHEN Fiorella Denari, joint owner of Sipping Duck Coffee Roasters, serves you a coffee on Friday, it will be with a good cause in mind.

Customers can treat themselves to their favourite coffee in the knowledge that a dollar from their payment will help tackle homelessness through the CafeSmart initiative, which is running on Friday, August 5.

Sipping Duck coffee roasters are participating in Street Smart's annual Cafe Smart campaign, which encourages coffee drinkers to donate the cost of a coffee to help the homeless. Sipping Duck co owner Fiorella Denari will donate $1 from every coffee sold on Friday to Street Smart. Picture: Brendan Radke

It is a cause close to Ms Denari’s heart.

“I come from a country where you see a lot of homelessness,” she said.

“When I was in uni we used to walk around the streets at night and give them food and clothes. A lot of them feel very trapped and they don’t know how to get out of that.

Sipping Duck co owner Fiorella Denari has supported the CafeSmart campaign since 2014. Picture: Brendan Radke

“That’s why I personally get behind this cause … and gives me a reason to sign up to [CafeSmart] every year.”

Seven cafes will participate in the initiative, which is organised by Australian NFP StreetSmart, including five Coffee Club stores at Cairns Central, Cairns Esplanade, Mt Sheridan, Redlynch and Smithfield, along with Sipping Duck in Stratford and Bungalow.

Sipping Duck and its customers raised $1500 for Shelter Housing Action Cairns in 2021. Customers can also donate the cost of a coffee online at streetsmartaustralia.org.

Originally published as Cairns coffee: Sipping Duck and Coffee Club cafes to donate money from each coffee sale to homelessness cause