Charitable Melbourne: Nine Ways to Give Back, One Bite at a Time

There are more charities than one can keep up with, yet from day-to-day giving back is often far from front of mind. If you're wondering how you can become a more charitable being, we've compiled a list of the ever-increasing number of social enterprises out there making giving back as easy as buying a beer or a coffee. These are the Melbourne hospitality venues and local companies that are placing giving front and centre again by making it synonymous with our favourite pastime: eating and drinking.

Shout

Shout is the new smartphone app that is making donating to charity as easy as shouting a mate a beer. A micro donations platform, it's putting charity in your pocket and placing donating at your fingertips. Users can donate $5 to $150 to the charity of their choice. Charities include Camp Quality, Foodbank Victoria, National Breast Cancer Foundation and Reach. Shout is trying to change the way we donate. What might seem like insignificant amounts to us will build over time and make lasting impacts.

Shebeen

Shebeen is the first not-for-profit bar of its kind in the world. Found in Manchester Lane in the Melbourne CBD, Shebeen serves up drinks from the developing world and donates proceeds back to the country of origin. If you buy a beer from Ethiopia, money will go to kickstart an organisation that develops innovative farming products that help African farmers run a profitable business. All you need to do is have a beer with some mates.

Kinfolk Cafe

Kinfolk is a little cafe with a lot of heart. With a team of volunteer waitstaff, profits are distributed between four development projects. Over the past year and a half they have employed 92 volunteers and distributed $65,000 to their project partners. Projects include The DreamLink Rwanda project, a Melbourne-based organisation that rebuilds education facilities in the post-genocide community to ensure basic primary education is possible.

Karma Kegs

The Sandhill Road group own a number of pubs across Melbourne including The Bridge Hotel and the newly refurbished Prahran Hotel. In an effort to give back, the gents came up with Karma Kegs. Every Friday night, each of their establishments puts up a keg of Carlton Draught for sale and punters pay the price they want to donate. The money from the kegs goes toward a range of charities, which changes each week. History shows that everyone always pays more than the beer is worth.

Ladro BYO

Ladro, the much-loved and celebrated authentic Italian pizza restaurant also enjoys giving back to their community. Both their Fitzroy and their Prahran restaurant run a $5 BYO night every Monday evening. The money raised at the Fitzroy restaurant goes towards Vinnies Vannie Matthew Talbot's mobile soup van that feeds over 300 people each night, while the money raised at the Prahran site goes towards the annual Prahran Mission Christmas Lunch, which feeds 300 people on Christmas Day.

Scarf

A borrowed restaurant + trainee wait staff + mentors + our own Scarf chef + various knitted bits + hungry, big-hearted customers = Scarf

That is Scarf's mission. They take a restaurant, usually on one of it's closed days, and take it over with their own staff. The mentors help marginalised youth gain hospitality experience in a safe and supportive background. Each program runs for 10 weeks and includes the Scarf dinners where diners can sample a two-course menu for $35 cooked by Scarf chef Ricky Holt and served up by trainees. Top Paddock is currently holding Scarf dinners until August 19.

Suspended Coffee

The Suspended Coffee phenomenon has been making its way around the world. The concept is simple: everyday coffee drinkers can pay in advance for what is called a 'suspended coffee', making it available to people who come in later that may be homeless or are unable to afford things like coffee. Cafes involved include T-Roy Browns, Impresso Coffee Bar, De Alleyway Espresso, Garden View Cafe, Lux Foundry Cafe and Palomino.

STREAT

Streat is an organisation or social enterprise with a three-tiered approach to bettering our society. They provide vocational hospitality training to disadvantaged youth, they offer social support to their trainees and they also provide Foodservices businesses that offer on the job training and work experience to their staff. With four cafes across Melbourne, Streat offers their trainees a six-month program teaching them to prepare and serve food and drinks. They leave this with a Certificate II in hospitality from William Angliss Institute. Since opening in 2010 Streat have provided 30,000 hours of paid work to their trainee staff.

Melbourne City Mission's Brew Crew

Melbourne City Mission, one of Melbourne's oldest charities has joined forces with St Ali and some of Australia's best baristas to provide hospitality training and experience to the disengaged and hard to reach population that MCM works so hard to help. The project 'The Brew Crew', saw five young people from MCM's Melbourne Academy — a learning community that works to change the lives of disadvantaged young people' — spend a week with some of Melbourne best baristas, learning the tricks of the trade. After battling it out on August 2 in a barista competition, students will be offered placement in renowned cafe St Ali among others. While this was done on a small scale, word on the street is St Ali are looking to engage in a global program to take this opportunity worldwide.