Bath charity Send a Cow is working with coffee shop chain Starbucks on a nationwide fundraising campaign to support farmers on smallholdings in rural Africa.
Nearly 700 Starbucks across the UK are aiming to raise £650 each for The Big Cow Project – the equivalent of a dairy cow that can change lives for communities in Rwanda.
Send a Cow, based in Newton St Loe, has helped more than a million people work their way out of extreme poverty in some of Africa’s poorest countries for nearly 30 years.
It provides livestock, including cows, tools, seeds and training, as part of a comprehensive programme designed to give people the hope and the means to establish a future for themselves, their families and their wider communities.
The charity currently works in seven African countries including Rwanda – a country where 60% of the population are believed to live below the poverty line and 44% of under 5s are stunted through malnutrition.
The Big Cow Project is the brainchild of a Starbucks barista in Bolton, Aaron Swift, who launched it last year following an inspirational Starbucks-funded trip to see coffee farmers in Rwanda.
Aaron said: “I saw how these cows help improve coffee productivity. They provide organic fertiliser, improve household income and nutrition from the milk they produce, and they reconcile community relationships. These cows really are changing lives.”
Aaron recruited 50 Starbucks stores across the North West to his Cow Project and together they successfully raised the equivalent of 11 dairy cows for Send a Cow. Inspired by its success and the level of enthusiasm and support that staff showed, The Big Cow Project is expanding to take place across hundreds of Starbucks branches this month.
Money raised throughout the month will be doubled by the Government as part of UK Aid Match funding which Send a Cow has secured until December 31.
Send a Cow chief executive Simon Barnes said: ‘‘Aaron’s initiative is a wonderful example of how a small idea and a grassroots campaign can develop into a massive fundraising opportunity which will directly help hundreds of Rwanda’s poorest families.
“It’s incredibly inspiring and we’re extremely grateful to Aaron and his colleagues at Starbucks for rallying behind it. The added bonus is that all of their efforts and their customers’ donations will be doubled as part of the UK Aid Match funding, which means we will be able to help even more of Africa’s poorest people. We’re expecting to see some pretty wacky fundraising activities over the next month, so I’m sure there’ll be lots of fun ways for people to get involved.’’
Visit www.sendacow.org or any Starbucks branch to find out more.
