Rough sleepers charity the Paper Cup Project will open its first coffee shop in Liverpool early in 2022 and a team of volunteers from Cargills is help making it happen. Tony McDonough reports

A charity that supports homeless people and rough sleepers in Liverpool will open its first coffee shop in Liverpool in January.

For the past five years, Paper Cup Project volunteers have regularly taken to the streets of Liverpool city centre, all weathers, to food, clothing and support to rough sleepers who have nowhere else to go.

Now the charity is to broaden its scope with a new plan to help homeless people in Liverpool to access training and employment via a new coffee shop it is set to open in Queen Square in the heart of the city’s retail district.

Working directly with the homeless community and local training providers, the coffee shop will offer training opportunities to homeless or vulnerably housed people in Liverpool. Its aim is to build skills and confidence to get them back into the workplace.

Ahead of the opening, a team of volunteers from global agriculture company, Cargills, has been helping get the premises ready as part of their ‘Cargill Cares’ initiative. The company employs 155,000 people across 70 countries to connect farmers with markets, customers with ingredients, and people and animals with the food they need to thrive.

Cargill employees Katie Bamber and Eva Clothier led the team of volunteers at the coffee shop, who provided assistance with painting and refurbishment costs. Katie said, “I wanted to support a local charity that helps the homeless.

“I felt like during the COVID-19 pandemic there was so much emphasis on ‘staying home to keep safe’ and it is so easy to forget that lots of people don’t have homes.

“What made me raise it in a ‘Cargill Cares’ meeting was when I saw a homeless man wearing a mask outside a shop and I thought ‘how can people refuse to wear masks when they’re in such a position of privilege and someone who has none of those things is still making an effort to keep themselves and others safe?’

“It really hit me. I wanted Cargill to help as much as we could and that meant finding a great charity such as the Paper Cup Project and I’m so glad I found them because they’re really making a difference and I’m so grateful I got to be a part of that.”

Michelle Langan, chief executive of the Paper Cup Project, added, “It was an absolute pleasure having the help and support of the Cargill team. Without their assistance, we would never have progressed as far as we have with the refurbishment.

“Both the practical and financial support was vital for our project to progress. The team really committed themselves to the project and the charity, and we are looking forward to welcoming the team back once the shop opens, so they can sample some of our home- made scouse.”