Coffee for NHS

UK Social Enterprise, Change Please, to Fuel NHS Nightingale EXCEL with Free Coffee During COVID-19

Change Please trains and employs people experiencing homelessness as baristas and will now supply coffee to NHS Staff nationwide.

London, April 21^st 2020: Change Please has begun serving free coffee at the NHS Nightingale EXCEL London, to help boost morale, provide some welcome fuel and rejuvenation for staff working relentlessly treating patients with COVID-19.The goodwill gesture will be rolled out to potentially 8 other hospitals across the UK including the NHS Nightingale Manchester.

Change Please is a social enterprise, which provides full barista training, jobs paying the London Living Wage and support for people experiencing homelessness. With multiple coffee shops and carts across the UK being closed due to the UK lockdown, their trained baristas have volunteered to serve coffee at hospital sites across the UK. Coffee is being provided to the front-line staff free of charge but Change Please are relying on funding from businesses and the public to continue this venture.

Founder of Change Please, Cemal Ezal said: “When we started Change Please back in 2015, our goal was to help vulnerable members of society get back on track, while providing high-quality coffee. We are so pleased to be able to provide support to the NHS during this trying time. We hope our coffee gives staff welcomed respite and refreshment as a small gesture to thank them for their incredible efforts saving lives.”

Natalie Forrest, NHS Nightingale London’s Chief Operating Officer has already visited the site and said, “Thank you for keeping us caffeinated.”

True to their award-winning business model, Change Please continues to support people experiencing homelessness throughout this crisis and all their trainees and staff have been kept on during this difficult period. In doing so, they are able to help protect their mental health and financial independence.

Change Please is relying on funds from businesses and the public to roll out to more NHS site nationwide and to continue their core mission of supporting people out homelessness.

To donate to support their efforts providing the NHS with coffee, please visit: https://crowdfunder.co.uk/coffee-for-nhs-heroes

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors

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About Change Please

Change Please launched in 2015, empowering people who have experienced homelessness by training them to be baristas. They provide training, employment paying the Living Wage and support with housing, finances and therapy to help people move forward and into onward employment.

100% of the profits of their award-winning coffee support Change Please’s mission to reduce homelessness. Their coffee can be purchased online at changeplease.org and at Sainsburys.