Why charity means so much to us at Gaggia UK Direct

There’s a saying that charity begins at home but here at Gaggia UK Direct we believe it starts in the business too.

After all, coffee is a sociable drink which brings friends together and can be a great way to help charities and community groups.

So we use the power of coffee to help many charities, donating machines and providing free barista training to several good causes, as well as raising thousands of pounds every year.

Managing director Raj Beadle has lived in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, for many years and so the company regularly donates to the town’s Welcome Centre food bank and the Huddersfield Mission where Raj used to be a trustee, along with international charity Christians Against Poverty and the Leeds-based Little Sisters of the Poor which runs a care home for the elderly.

Raj had never heard of the Little Sisters until they knocked on the Gaggia UK Direct door at its headquarters in Elland, West Yorkshire.

“I first knew about them when two nuns knocked on our door asking for donations,” says Raj. “I was so surprised to see them standing there we’ve helped them ever since.”
Huddersfield Mission helps people struggling with complex needs such as homelessness, mental health and addiction. Gaggia UK Direct donated a commercial coffee machine and provided the charity with barista training.

Raj has been a member of Lindley Methodist Church in Huddersfield for a long time which has supported a charity called the Riziki children’s organisation based in Nakuru, Kenya, for 15 years. Riziki rescues young children, usually orphans, trying to survive by scavenging on a rubbish tip just outside the city.

They then live in dormitories at the organisation’s centre where they grow their own food and vegetables and Riziki also pays school fees so the children can go to a nearby school to help them on their way to a better life. The schooling can lead into higher education, including universities.

The charity costs £50,000 a year to run and a series of church events culminating in a fundraising concert at Lindley Methodist Church in May 2024 raised almost £5,000, This included Raj raffling off a gold-coloured coffee machine and Gaggia UK Direct sponsoring the concert and making donations to the music groups involved. Raj hosts and sponsors a coffee morning in the church on the third Friday of every month from 10am to 12 noon to raise even more for Riziki, with the mornings expanding into crafts and charity stall events.

Gaggia UK Direct has sponsored Cleckheaton Cricket Club near Dewsbury in West Yorkshire for many years – it even has its own Gaggia scoreboard – and a youth team at Greetland Football Club near Halifax which is also in West Yorkshire. Gaggia UK Direct staff are involved in both these organisations.

In the past Gaggia UK Direct has been a major supporter for Macmillan Coffee Mornings and also helped the Prince’s Trust’s ‘Get Into’ scheme providing free training for youngsters struggling to get into work or training, often because they come from deprived backgrounds. Gaggia UK Direct not only trained them for two weeks with top baristas but took some on and one now runs her own business.

Raj said: “I wish we could do something similar now as we could do it over Zoom online. People sometimes need a stepping stone in life and we would gladly help them.”
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Contacting Gaggia UK Direct couldn’t be easier. Phone us Monday to Friday on 01422 766972 or email us at [email protected]
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