Cafes throughout Narrabri have been taking part in Cafe SOSpeso, an initiative which supports carers by paying it forward.
Customers who want to support the initiative, which has coincided with National Carers Week this week, can donate $8 to a participating cafe.
A voucher will then be available for a carer to have coffee and cake or biscuit, on you.
Carers and the person they are caring for can take advantage of this voucher, during National Carers Week and in the weeks following where vouchers remain.
The local venues taking part in this initiative have included Cafe One23, T-Table, Relish, Coogle Cafe, Monterey Cafe, Yield Cafe, Wilga Hotel Cafe, Watson’s Bakery and Kimmie & Co Teahouse.
Carers often experience, isolation, loneliness and poor mental health.
Theme this year is “A little support from the community can make a big difference”.
Cafe sospeso is Italian for ‘suspended coffee’. The pending coffee is a cup of coffee paid for in advance as an anonymous act of charity.
The tradition began in the working-class cafes of Naples, where someone who had experienced good luck would order a sospeso, paying the price of two coffees but receiving and consuming only one.
A poor person enquiring later whether there was a sospeso available would then be served a coffee for free.
The concept has been adapted, and in this instance recognises the important role carers play in the community.
