Young guns make impact
Born with a condition which meant the bones in her leg didn’t develop correctly, Robbie Francis has had a prosthetic leg her whole life.
A leg she calls her Lucy leg.
The name also doubles as the name of a social enterprise called The Lucy Foundation she and three other Hamiltonians created.
Francis, Ben Scott, Simone HaylettPetty and Jessica Pantoja-Sanders started the foundation in 2013 to empower people with disabilities through trade.
The Lucy Foundation works with coffee-farming families, with and without disabilities, in Pluma Hidalgo, Mexico, to produce ethical and sustainable coffee for export back to New Zealand.
Kiwis with disabilities are twice as likely to be unemployed in New Zealand and earn only half the average weekly income of non-disabled New Zealanders, Scott said.
Disabled people also have less access to services and face societal barriers and discrimination, he said.
The Lucy Foundation is building a supply chain through coffee, which encourages employment of disabled people, highlights their abilities and empowers them in their daily lives to be an active part of the community.
‘‘We worked on the idea of what is a way that can bring New Zealand and Mexico together,’’ Scott said.
‘‘Mexico is a large and well-awarded coffee producer and New Zealand has a great coffee consumer culture.’’
The goal is to build an inclusive and accessible supply chain from bean to cup, Scott said.
‘‘It doesn’t seem fair that because of where you are born and the opportunities around you that because you have disability, you shouldn’t be able to live a fulfilling life that contributes to community and society.
‘‘The Lucy Foundation empowers people with disabilities to work in the coffee industry by breaking down training and employment barriers and creating inclusive work environments.’’
Francis has never seen her lack of a leg as a burden, but rather as something that has empowered her, Scott said.
‘‘We want all people with disabilities to have a Lucy moment.’’
The first batch of Pluma coffee was available for sale in late September and has sold out.
‘‘Fifteen kilograms was brought in and we were able to say that from end to end, there was disability inclusion,’’ Scott said.
‘‘The families who farmed the coffee were people with disabilities and Flight Coffee and Co-Ed in Wellington who helped us roast, produce and distribute the coffee are involved with disability inclusion as well.
‘‘That’s our whole big vision: how we can create an end-to-end supply chain from farm to the coffee cup with disability inclusion.’’
Scott said the coffee tastes very light, with citrus notes.
‘‘It has a clean, fresh taste to it. Some people who don’t drink coffee have [compared] it to tea.’’
The Lucy Foundation now aims to increase coffee production. Its operational budget for 2017 is $65,000 and it aims to increase this budget by $100,000 over the next three years to grow the organisation and increase impact.
‘‘Over the next four or five years,’’ Scott said, ‘‘I would love for us to be at a more sustainable volume so that it can be served and retailed throughout New Zealand.’’
‘‘It doesn’t seem fair that because of where you are born and the opportunities around you that because you have disability, you shouldn’t be able to live a fulfilling life that contributes to community and society.’’
Ben Scott