Fill one, feed one.
FILL ONE, FEED ONE
More people than ever before are being forced to rely on food banks to feed themselves and their families. Between April and September 2020, a staggering 1.2 million emergency food supplies were provided to people in crisis throughout the UK. This is an almost 50% increase compared to the same period in 2019, highlighting the devastating impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on local families. In the first six months of the pandemic, 2600 parcels were given to children every day (Trussell Trust, 2020).
HICUP (which stands for HelpIng Communities cUP) is a social enterprise that aims to go a little way to helping the growing number of people using food banks across Northern Ireland and further afield.
SO HOW DOES IT WORK?
With every sale of our reusable coffee cups, provisions for a care package will be donated to a local food bank with enough supplies to provide a meal for a family of four or provide essential care items such as toiletries depending on the needs of the food bank at the time.
We have initially partnered with Lisburn food bank and as we move forward, we aim to work directly with more local food banks in Northern Ireland and beyond.
Since our launch in November 2020, with your support we have given provisions towards over 550 care packages to Lisburn Food Bank. This has provided essential food and care items to people in out local communities - thank you!
WHY REUSABLE COFFEE CUPS?
2.5 billion coffee cups are used and thrown away each year in the UK - enough to stretch around the world roughly five and a half times - but less than 1 in 400 (just 0.25%) are recycled (latest UK Government figures published in December 2017).
Most disposable coffee cups are lined with a plastic coating which recycling centres are unable to remove. This means a mountain of those cups end up in landfill every year after being used only once.
You can use our HICUP coffee cups again and again! We have sold out of our first generation bamboo coffee cups, but hope to have a new and exciting product coming your way very soon! Our bamboo cups are dishwasher safe, but shouldn't be used in a microwave - we reckon a fresh brew tastes better anyway!
So with each cup purchase, you are caring for a family in need AND helping to protect our beautiful planet by tackling the coffee cup waste problem, woohoo!
Stockist locator
Check out our map below to find a local HICUP stockist near you.