Making a difference in a child's life
Barista
Lavazza, Sri Lanka's most popular coffee house chain celebrated the
season by making a difference in a child's life. With the beginning of
the school year at hand, the team recently provided school essentials to
the children of Niyadhagala Vidyalaya, a remote school in the village of
Kumaragama, Thanamalwila for the second consecutive year.
The campaign titled 'The Coffee That Gives' was spearheaded by
Barista Lavazza Brand Manager Lien Keerthisinghe. With a simple but
effective mode of creating a charity fund Barista was able to engage its
valued customers in the project by offering them the opportunity to
contribute to this fund every time they purchased a coffee.
By purchasing these items customers were given the opportunity to
make a contribution towards the charity fund. However, doing their part,
the management of Barista also pledged to match the total collection
made rupee for rupee. As the number of coffee drinkers grew through the
recent festive season, so did the fund which ultimately doubled through
the company's generous contribution.
With many rallying around to help, Barista was able to purchase 125
school supply packs through the collected funds. These school supply
packs included a school bag, uniform material, lunch box, water bottle,
exercise books and other stationary material.
Knowing that many children attended school in slippers or barefoot
Barista also included a gift voucher of Rs.1000 for shoes, making a huge
difference in the lives of these children.
On December 8, 2015 the team at Barista visited Thanamanwila in order
to distribute the school packs. Arriving at Niyadhagala Vidyalaya which
was a mere single large hall making up the entire school it was clear
that this was an ideal school to benefit from such a project. Greeted by
the teachers with the traditional lighting of the oil lamp, the team
then proceeded to handout the school packs to bright-eyed students who
gathered around in excitement.
To add to the joy of the children, the Barista team also took along
with them goodie bags filled with assorted candy, chocolates and sweets
for the children to enjoy. |