Creating a retro pop-up café for Liscombe House: Christmas Appeal 2020

When Lyn and Keith Geer read that Liscombe House was hoping to create a retro pop-up café for Liscombe House, they knew they could help.

They had an unused gazebo which sounded ideal for the café, and especially for use in the courtyards in Liscombe House.

The Leith Park residents offered the Oztrail gazebo to Mandy Williamson, Lifestyle Coordinator.

“It was a generous offer which was immediately accepted,” Mandy said.

The creation of a retro pop-up café at Liscombe House was one of the many brainwaves that Mandy has had to making sure that residents are kept connected.

“Our residents love a chat, a coffee, and the chance to reminisce,” she said. “A retro café seems to fit the bill.”

This year’s OCAV Christmas Appeal hopes to raise $10,000 to turn that brainwave into reality.

The appeal has got underway well with financial donations and that all important gazebo.

However, Mandy is hoping to raise enough to purchase an industrial-strength coffee machine and cart, tables and chairs, and a speaker to play old tunes on. Additional money will go to buying sturdy chairs and tables for the different courtyards.

“All donations are welcome, and it is amazing to see how much $50, for example, can contribute to,” Mandy said.

Some of her thoughts include:

• $50 could buy coffee cups and plates
• $150 could buy a small table for friends to sit round
• $300 could a set of portable speakers to play melodies on.

“A really generous donation of $500 would buy enough coffee beans for a year,” she said.

After working through the last year, not an easy task for anyone, Mandy is convinced that a pop-up café is the way to go. She knows first-hand that some residents have withdrawn a bit over the year in spite of her team’s best efforts to keep activities going across all wings.

“A pop-up café will draw out even the shyest of residents – because of the smell of the coffee and the sound of the music,” she says.

“Everyone loves to toe tap and have a sing-a-long, and if we can raise the funds to introduce the café into our program, then I know we will bring joy and improve everyone’s mental health and wellbeing.”