Cafe Revival is a hardworking social enterprise charity cafe run by East Kent Mind raising mental health awareness and challenging stigma. A much loved vegetarian & vegan cafe on the first floor of the Horsebridge Arts Centre in Whitstable. Run with passion and a desire to change lives for those most in need whilst ensuring an eclectic retro atmosphere with vinyl decks playing all your favourite tunes. Now the spread of Coronavirus with the forced closure has put everything we do at risk at a time when mental health support is key to ensuring no one is left feeling alone or helpless. We are desperately trying to keep some level of on-going support for residents by establishing a Well-being support phone line in partnership with East Kent Mind. This much needed service in a time of increased anxiety and isolation will hopefully help support local residents unable to physically access support services during these unprecedented times.

As with all cafes we have been forced to close due to Government Guidelines responding to the COVID-19 pandemic but as a fully self-funded Social Enterprise Charity café with no rateable value we are not entitled to any Government support as a business. We have thankfully been able to furlough most of our staff but we still have significant overheads and fixed costs in addition to the loss of stock and reserves after a 60% reduction in footfall throughout March. We will not survive the foreseeable future without the help of our customers, community and those of you wishing to ensure our services continue.

We are hoping to raise funds to save the cafe now and after the crisis to allow us to reopen (£6000) and establish a well-being support phone line for Thanet and Whitstable residents, with immediate effect (£3000). A donation toward our goal of £9,000 will go some way to ensure we are able to continue to provide the following extremely valuable services:

Wellbeing Phone line: Since being forced to close we have been working really hard with East Kent Mind behind to develop a well-being support line. This has launched and is manned by Revival volunteers, mental health workers and supervised by East Kent Mind/Mind in Bexley Mental Health professionals. We desperately need funds to keep this service up and running and help recruit and train more volunteers in this time of high anxiety and isolation.

Pay It Forward: our community food initiative allows people to donate money so that anyone in need whether it be due to food poverty, isolation or mental health issues can access our café and order food or a hot drinks just like any other customer in the knowledge that it has been pre-paid. This is an essential part of our inclusive ethos ensuring that we function properly as a community café. Last year we served over 1000 pay-it-forward drinks or meals to those most in need. Any surplus donations will be ring-fenced for our pay-it-forward scheme for when we open again in a new post COVID-19 world.

Employee Support Programme: At Café Revival we offer employment support to those who have suffered mental health distress or are currently accessing Mental Health Services and we continue to support and fund where possible their Mental Health journey. This key support is necessary to ensure equal access to the job market. This approach also creates an empathetic and caring working environment at the Café that benefits employees and customers alike.

Peer to Peer Support and Support Groups: We actively encourage peer support and social groups to use our space, bringing people together, sharing experiences and listening to others is a highly successful way to combat isolation and improve well-being. We had also just recruited a Mental Health Therapist to develop and facilitate a Men’s support group, an Anxiety group and a young carers group, we would be heartbroken if these much needed services were lost.

Cafe Revival run by East Kent Mind is the only specifically Mental Health focused community café in the locality. We had so many plans to expand and develop our mental health services within our new location at the Horsebridge Art Centre and these are now all under threat. Our retro themed little café playing vinyl on double decks has been a welcoming space for the entire community, the opening and welcoming ethos provides a space for everyone, with our ‘Happy to Chat’ initiative and empathetic staff Revival also offers informal support with the aim of helping to reduce the risk of mental health crisis and breaking down the barriers created by Mental Health Stigma and lack of awareness.

The pressures of Mental Health services were all too evident before the COVID-19 pandemic, the unprecedented situation we are all now faced with will undoubtedly increase the pressure on services as we all grapple with the consequences of loss, isolation, insecurity, anxiety and fear. We need to come out of this stronger than before working together to try to heal our families and our communities.

Your donation, of any amount big or small, will be so greatly received, we have tried every option available but sadly we have had to face the reality that without your help there will be no Revival and certainly no planned mental health developments. We know times are hard for everyone at the moment and we really are so massively grateful for your support.

Please follow us on our social media to see how your donations are benefiting others in need at this time and A HUGE THANK YOU TO YOU ALL in advance.

The Cafe Revival Team x

https://www.facebook.com/caferevivalatthehorsebridge/

https://www.instagram.com/caferevivalwhitstable/

https://twitter.com/Revival_Kent

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