Birdhouse Café crowdfunder launched

The Birdhouse Café in Exeter’s Pinces Gardens has launched a £20,000 crowdfunding campaign to expand its indoor space and renovate the kitchen to ensure this popular community hub can thrive all year round.

The café provides vital paid work opportunities for adults with learning disabilities from Garland Support, enabling them to learn new skills and interact with customers. As a social enterprise, any profits go back into the community.

Currently, the indoor space is limited to two small rooms. By knocking down a dividing wall, the café can create more customer seating as well as additional capacity for community groups to run events after 2pm, when the café closes.

Café manager, Kelly Sharp explained: ““Over the summer our outside seating has been buzzing, but the onset of the rain and colder weather really limits how many customers we have. Expanding indoors will really make a big difference and provide even more working opportunities for our team.”

The plans for the kitchen renovation are designed to provide more room and a better layout to help the team undertake tasks, helping them to develop skills that will be useful for future employment prospects.

Kelly added: “The Birdhouse means a lot to me personally. Watching the team enjoy working here, becoming more confident and bringing joy to our customers is such a wonderful experience.”

Since Kelly took over last year, the café has become a real hub for the community, hosting a wide variety of events such as yoga for children, breastfeeding support, sewing workshops, creative writing sessions, pop up shops, book and plant sales, and more.

Paul Sharp from Garland Support, who is also a co-founder of The Birdhouse, said: “We set up The Birdhouse primarily to give adults with learning disabilities a safe, supportive space to work. But alongside that, it’s become a destination in its own right, known for great coffee, delicious snacks and a warm welcome.

“Raising these funds means we can offer more jobs to those on the waiting list. With the community behind us, I know we can reach our target - fingers crossed, work on the seating area will start in mid-October.”

The crowdfunder is supported by the Aviva Community Fund, so every donation of less than £250 will be automatically doubled. A variety of rewards are available depending on the donation amount. To donate and help the Birdhouse spread its wings, visit: More Seats - More Jobs

A separate fundraising event is taking place on September 28, when part of Pinces Gardens will be transformed into a traditional village-style fete, with stalls, games, dog show, tombola and much more. For details check out the Birdhouse on social media.