ChariTEA: The tea that helps us give back

A beautiful farm in Kent, not far from our TW store, where the Bore Place team are working towards sustainable solutions in farming, food and education.

With over 500 acres, the farm is a working organic dairy farm and a team of trustees and volunteers also run various programmes on the land including educational workshops and sessions to teach children about the basics of growing your own food, sustainability and farming.

They also run the Grow to Grow project to help young people aged 15-24 who are struggling to get back into the education system to gain independence and skills through tending their own allotments, caring for the animals and learning to cook their produce in the onsite kitchen!

Why are they special to Bird & Blend?

We met Sally from Bore Place at the Tunbridge Wells farmers market when her stall was next to ours. She was selling a range of hand picked organic fruit and veg (including the best purple and yellow tomatoes Krisi ever did taste!), as well as spreading the word about the great things that Bore Place do.

What do they aim to use the money raised for?

They will be fitting out a new cabin kitchen in their Market Garden, which will allow the young people to make their own preserves and jams from their produce! The kitchen will also be used to prepare lunches fresh from the garden and to promote healthy eating.

Our current ChariTEA is Bounce Alzheimer's Therapy, or BAT Foundation. Aptly named as they are attempting to ease symptoms of Alzheimers and improve standards of living for those suffering from this disease through ping pong!

Bird & Blend are super excited to be supporting this campaign and hope to purchase equiptment for BAT! 

We've also dusted off our ping pong bats at the office for a cheeky tournament or two! 

Tunbridge Wells Mental Health Resource was nominated by one of our Tunbridge Wells store team members who had personally benefitted from their fantastic support. 

Mental health provisions are in dire need of support and improvement across the country with the NHS offerings often taking a long time and being very under financed.

TWMHR is run by volunteers who help anyone struggling straight away with both practical and emotional support when they need it.  

Today, MHR is one of the few organisations providing comprehensive services throughout the Weald of Kent area, which includes the major towns of Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge, Sevenoaks, and the surrounding rural areas. In this Weald area, around 33,000 people will visit their GP every year with varying degrees of emotional distress.

Of these people, over 1,000 will have severe and enduring mental health problems. MHR seeks to empower people with mental illness so they are able to re-take control of their lives, increase their self-confidence and feel a full and valued member of society. Our services are funded through both statutory and fund-raised income, and are delivered by paid staff with the support of volunteers.

Over the winter months, we desperately wanted to support a homeless charity in the Brighton area. As a community we have one of the highest rates of homelessness in the country and although the beach and gardens may provide a little warmth in the summer, it can be bitterly cold in the winter for those who sleep rough. 

Off The Fence support groups that are the most at risk in the community and their Anti Freeze outreach in particular is very close to our hearts. They provide life-saving support for the homeless, their outreach teams are on the streets in the evenings seeking to meet the basic needs of those who are homeless and sleeping rough. They also open their drop in centre 4 days a week providing specific care, including help with housing, benefits and addiction issues. This life-saving work is only possible because of the generosity of those who support them by giving their time, money and other gifts that are so desperately needed. Giving a warm pair of socks doesn’t cost much but makes a huge difference to someone who is homeless in Brighton & Hove.

They also run Gateway – Supporting Women and restoring dignity. 

St John's is a day centre that runs twice a week in Hucknall, Nottingham for elderly people in the community. Their fab group of volunteers (of which founder Krisi + her mum are both) provide a warm, nutritious meal as well as friendship, activites and care every Friday and Tuesday. 

This community and friendship ensures that many elderly people who live on their own get to go out and spend time with like minded people each week - something that we can take for granted. 

Brighton Carers Centre seek to improve the quality of life for all the amazing carers in Brighton & Hove. They provide services for carers to help them cope with their situation, get the support and to participate in the community of our city.  

We helped them raise funds to go towards a respite caravan for carers. The caravan, which will be located in East Sussex, is going to offer carers a cheap option for breaks and holidays.  It is well recognised that respite breaks are vital for carers to keep a healthy balance between their caring role and their life. 

Ditch the Label is one of the UK's largest and most ambitious anti-bullying charities: 'We are saying no to the fact that 2.5 million teens are still experiencing bullying and no to ignoring it".

These guys are based down in Brighton and have stocks of our tea in their offices! They reached out to us to help them and we were more than happy to support this fantastic cause. We are very much about being welcoming and accessible to all people and are proud to say everyone is welcome in our stores regardless of background, race, sex or anything else people may be labelled for. 

Ditch the Label train teachers, parents, guardians and others that are involved with young people about the best ways to tackle issues to do with bullying in a new and more effective method. They also work with celebrities and influential people to share their advice and personal experiences to benefit those suffering. There's much more they do in the way of working with young people too, as well as running awareness campaigns around the world. Their inspirational efforts to pioneer anti-bullying in an effective and innovative way is something Bird & Blend Tea Co. supports.

Our Brighton store manager Becky has volunteered at BPEC, who work with schools in the local community, providing resources for teachers to educate kids about the environment. They also provide the public with information about local and global concerns, supporting choices which prioritise peace, people and planet, throughout daily life.

We also get BPEC's Big Lemon bus to Glastobury each year - the big yellow bus runs on cooking oil!

BPEC members receive 10% off in some local shops, including Bird & Blend! We also give you 10% off your tasty tea when you bring your own tins for us to weigh tea into, and 10% off drinks when you bring your own cups.

The environment is very close to our hearts at Bird & Blend and we realise the importance of minimising our impact on it; last year we recycled 2710kg, saving the equivalent of 5 trees! All of our cups and straws are fully biodegradable and we give you 10% off if you bring in your own cups or tins to be filled by us! 

Our much loved Brighton regular, Dale, mentioned to us that Action on Hearing Loss had really made a difference to him. We love seeing and chatting to Dale in store and he is a regular at our Acoustic nights too, so the Brighton team were more than happy to put this great cause forward! 

After walking along the seafront to the Brighton store every day and seeing first hand the magnificent job the Lifeboat's team of volunteers do on a daily basis Krisi + Mike chose their local RNLI to be Bird & Blend's first ever ChariTEA.