Raising money for staff & ops costs - Covid-19
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UPDATE from Deon & Stacy, owners of Baseline Coffee Roasters:
We just want to say a massive THANK YOU to every single one of you who have been able to donate thus far! We are beyond grateful for the incredible support you have all shown us in this really tough time. We can't believe that we're halfway to our goal - your amazing donations will go a great way towards helping us to continue paying our fantastic team over the month of April. We just also wanted to let you all know that we are doing everything in our power to apply for every government initiative and debt-relief grant, and will be taking any measures possible to ensure that above all, our staff are taken care of during this lockdown & beyond. We really do mean it when we say it's not about the coffee, it's about the People - always - and our people are our primary priority. Thank you for helping us to take care of them so that they & their loved ones can stay safe & indoors through this pandemic.
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Hi, thanks for visiting our page. We're posting this on behalf of our friends & family back in South Africa, who own a small Coffee Roastery & Espresso Bar in Woodstock, Cape Town. Here is their story:
Hi Everyone. Our names are Deon & Stacy and we roast and serve coffee out of a small, curated space in the beautifully diverse suburb of Woodstock, Cape Town, South Africa. We recently made the very tough decision to close our Espresso Bar in order to protect our valuable staff, who would otherwise have to use public transport to & from work. Although it will be potentially devastating for our business, we feel it is the most responsible thing to do in order to minimize risk & exposure, for both our staff & customers' sake. We are doing everything we can to continue to pay our staff at their full rates for as long as we can, as well as cover operational costs in the absence of any trade/income.
At this stage we do not know what, if any, government assistance can be rendered to us. It appears there are plans regarding the creation of a small business fund by the government, but the details are not yet clear. We do not know how or by whom this fund will be administered, what the qualifying criteria are & if we will even meeet these in order to get assistance, timelines around when this assistance will actually be provided, and what the "help" will realistically entail (tax breaks? payment holidays/delays? real-life financial assistance?). We will of course be applying for any & all assistance that we can get locally, but in the meantime, the day-to-day & monthly financial implications will continue to pile up for us & our staff.
If you're in the position to help, and you're looking for ways to contribute, please consider us. Right now we're just trying to cover the basics such as salaries for our staff and operational costs - one month at a time...
We're ALL experiencing this. We know that we're not special. We're just trying to find a way to continue paying some of our bills whilst still keeping our staff as safe as possible.
The not-knowing is terrifying for everyone. "How long is the Corona Virus going to go on for?" "How are we going to keep paying our bills?" "How are we going to buy food?" These are the questions that we are all facing during this COVID-19 pandemic, regardless of whether whether we are business owners or employees.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to reach out to us.
Thank you so much for your consideration.
Deon & Stacy
Baseline Coffee Roasters. Cape Town. South Africa.
