Over one billion people worldwide live with disabilities, making them the largest minority in the world. And yet many people with disabilities face huge inequality: they are less likely to be employed, have less access to healthcare, and often gain lower levels of education than those without disabilities.
But The Lucy Foundation wants to do something about that. They know that empowering people with disabilities benefits the social and economic life of their entire community, so they’re working to create a culture of inclusiveness and diversity – with a little help from everyone’s favourite brew.
Through their Coffee Project, The Lucy Foundation will work with five families affected by disability, who live in the small mountainous village of Pluma Hidalgo, Oaxaca. They will collaborate with them to produce specialty coffee in a way that is disability-inclusive, and with the help of local organisation Piña Palmera, will export that coffee to be sold in New Zealand.
But they need your help to make it happen. In exchange for helping them fund the necessary equipment, The Lucy Foundation are offering everything from a traditional Oaxacan tortilla press, to the chance to have your name tattooed on campaigner Robbie’s leg! We thought this was some pretty impressive dedication, so we got in touch with The Lucy Foundation to hear more about this inspiring project.
How are you finding the campaign so far?
It’s gotten off to a good start, we’re leaning on our personal networks to help get the word out along with some of the bits mentioned below.
What do you have planned for the rest of your campaign – anything for us to look forward to?
We’ve been featured on Bfm, you can catch Jess explaining the project in a bit more detail here. Attitude TV (New Zealand producer showcasing possibilities for people with disabilities) are also featuring us in an upcoming blog post (date TBC).
We’re posting a feature on each of the families we’ll be working with over the coming weeks, so that pledgers and supporters can get to know the people who will benefit from their generous contributions. We’re also holding a fundraiser auction in Hamilton on July 2nd. The theme is economically, environmentally and socially sustainable items.
Anything you want to shout out to your crowd?
A big thanks for the support so far! As important as the fundraising is, so too is the message of inclusion, equality and human rights. So if you’re a supporter of the cause but can’t contribute financially, the further we can spread the message the better, you can help by liking, sharing, tweeting, or telling people about what we’re doing.
