teapigs have closed the doors on their hugely successful pop-up shop which opened last week from 14th-19th August at The Old Truman Brewery in East London.
Every single penny spent in store and taken from event ticket sales was donated to their ethical scheme and teapigs are incredibly proud to announce they have raised an impressive £5192. This money will be able to fully fund the building of a vocational training centre in Mwogo, Rwanda.
The majority of teapigs’ signature everyday brew comes from Rwanda and teapigs work very closely with The Point Foundation charity to give back to the tea growing communities where the tea is produced. The Point Foundation directly support educational opportunities for vulnerable children in Rwanda and having already raised thousands of pounds through donations of pack sales of teapigs’ everyday brew and other fundraising events, teapigs were keen to do more.
“We had a goal to raise some more money for The Point Foundation but weren’t sure how to go about it,” explains Louise Cheadle, teapigs co-founder and tea taster. “While we were scratching our heads about what to do, Truman’s Brewery got in touch and told us they had a pop up space available. We’ve always talked about having a teapigs shop so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. We then spoke to Karen and Charles (the founders of The Point Foundation) and asked them if there was anything specific we could get involved in. As soon as they told us about their project to build the training centre in Mwogo we knew this was our new target.”
The Point Foundation’s most recent project is in Mwogo village, Bugesera – one of the poorest regions in Rwanda. As part of the Mwogo development plan, The Point Foundation aim to open a Vocational Training Centre by January 2019 – the centre will train vulnerable youngsters in valuable skills such as mechanics, tailoring, hairdressing and plumbing. Armed with these skills, they will be able to gain skilled jobs and raise themselves out of poverty.
Louise continues, “We’d initially hoped to raise around £4000 but then found that £5000 would fund the entire project so this was the number we were really aiming for. So much work went into the shop and to see the amazing response from the public was simply mind blowing. We hit £5000 with ten minutes to spare on Sunday and are so excited to see the difference this money will make to the communities in Rwanda.”
Some of the finest black teas in the world are sourced from Rwanda, and teapigs are committed to giving back to the communities that bring them their premium, whole leaf tea. teapigs donate 5-15p from every pack of everyday brew they sell to the Point Foundation and have had previous success at raising money for the charity. To date teapigs have raised over £200,000 from pack sales, and last year the teapigs team took part in Tough Mudder; a seriously hard core obstacle race to raise another £4,000 for the worthy cause. The money from the Tough Mudder race was used to install two 5,000L rainwater tanks for homes in the Community Based Living programme in Gisenyi, Rwanda.
Last year teapigs everyday brew also became 100% Rainforest Alliance certified – meaning that the tea estates their everyday brew is sourced from have been audited to meet standards that require environmental, social, and economic sustainability.
You can learn more about teapigs’ ethical scheme and values
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