A Caloundra cafe is making a world of difference to the lives of vulnerable children around the world.
With the help of generous customers and staff, the popular waterfront business has clocked up a heart-warming number of child sponsorships.
Lindsay Ross-Gilder and his wife Jane have owned La Promenade Cafe overlooking Pumicestone Passage at Bulcock Beach since 2009 and in that time, they have always advocated for those in need.
Remarkably, they now sponsor 50 children through World Vision.
This, as well as a mammoth $500,000 worth of donations in recent years, was made possible with funds placed in the cafe’s tip jar, which the owners matched from their own pockets.
“That’s been our number-one priority — to help the less-fortunate children,” Mr Ross-Gilder said.
“The customers of ours who come day in and day out with their generosity, they spend their money with us and in turn we are able to spend money with World Vision and the other charities we help as well.
“My staff and the management are very eager to do what we do and without their help, we wouldn’t be anywhere.
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“All the tips that we collect from day to day and month to month and year to year all go into the funding for their children.
“We make up the rest from what we put in from our pockets.”
La Promenade’s half-a-million dollars in funds assisted various charities over the past 12 years, including World Vision, the Fred Hollows Foundation, Mercy Ships and Catholic Mission.
Mr Ross-Gilder’s yearning to help innocent children living in poverty began while he was working within the airline industry.
Visiting vulnerable communities and orphanages in India, Zimbabwe and Thailand, Mr Ross-Gilder gained a first-hand experience of poverty.
“I saw the way things are and the way things should be – that’s why I want to keep that circle of giving alive, to bring real change to these vulnerable parts of the world,” he said.
“A lot of time around the world in third-world countries, people can’t even get a clean drink of water.
“When I see water being wasted down the sink, straight away I think of these people in other countries.”
The 50 sponsored children are spread across 13 countries in Africa and Asia — including countries hardest hit by the ravages of COVID-19, and a hunger crisis that is affecting more than 41 million people.
The children are from Uganda, Zambia, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Kenya, Bangladesh, Burundi, Malawi, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Chad and Rwanda.
The sponsorship to World Vision alone comes to around $29,000 a year, and about $260,000 in total.
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“There’s not a corner of the world where the past year-and-a-half hasn’t been tough,” Mr Ross-Gilder said.
“But while it’s hard here, I know it’s even harder in countries that don’t have the health systems or infrastructure that we are lucky enough to have here.
“Lockdowns have led to huge loss of income, long-term school closures, increased child labour, early marriage and, in too many cases, severe hunger.
“A lot of these people don’t even have their COVID shots. So that’s going to be another problem.
“That’s another way I would love to help and maybe this financial year we may be able to spend some money and do something with the COVID shot that people require.”
Mr Ross-Gilder now hopes other businesses will come on board and start a similar project.
He said helping even one extra child made a world of difference.
“To everyone in the region, I wish there were other people who would come on board and do what we do.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s one child or 10 or 50, somebody is getting something from it and that’s what we want to see.
“There is something very fulfilling to know you are giving someone even one slice of bread.
“If we could all get involved and give a little bit from here and a little bit from there, it would make a wonderful difference.”
Sponsoring a child for $48 per month can help provide education, safe drinking water, food and agriculture, health services and assist them generate an income.
La Promenade Cafe is located at 4 Tay Avenue, Caloundra, open daily from 6am to 3pm.
Visit: worldvision.com.au
