Café customers encouraged to “pay it forward” in kindness scheme

Sunday 28 January 2024

A local café has launched a “pay it forward” scheme to encourage islanders to gift pre-paid food or drink to a person in need.

Cheyenne O’Connor of the Butterfly Café – which opened its doors to islanders last year – said around 50 people had contributed to the initiative in the last week alone.

The scheme enables customers to buy something on the menu and “pay it forward”, with the receipt printed and kept in an accessible area where someone in need can pick it up and receive the food or drink for free.

Customers can pay forward for anything from a cup of tea to the entire menu, or pay forward money so that someone can choose their own meal.

Pictured: In the "pay it forward" scheme, the receipts are kept in an accessible area where people in need can pick it up and receive the pre-paid food or drink for free.

Cheyenne explained that the café had actually been running the scheme for a few months, but had recently decided to “get the word out” after introducing a new menu.

“People have just been walking in and saying they want to pay forward a meal, saying that it is a really good idea – obviously a lot of people struggle,” she continued.

“This is aimed at anyone who falls on hard times and needs the help.”

Cheyenne emphasised that the scheme utilises a “no questions asked” policy to help ensure that the receipts for free meals or drinks are readily available to anyone in need.

“If someone is coming in and they are putting themselves in that position to get a meal, there is a reason behind that and so we wouldn’t question why they are doing that,” she added.

Pictured: The Buttery Café opened last year to provide job opportunities and workplace training for individuals who have experienced abuse and former prisoners seeking to reintegrate into society.

Cheyenne continued: “We see a lot of people commenting about food banks or where they can get extra help when they have just lost their job or they are working but still don’t have enough money to feed their children.

“It’s important that other businesses look at getting involved as well, because we are only one café, so we can’t help the whole island.”