People and coffee are Kayla Hanna’s two passions. So much so that when she isn’t working as a school chaplain, the bright young Gold Coast woman spends her time making coffee for those in need.
Why? “For me, it’s so much more than just coffee,” she says. “People are looking for a real connection, they’re looking to develop relationships and everything that goes with that and it starts with coffee.”
The seeds were sown in childhood when Kayla helped her father Glenn take coffee to homeless people. “It showed me people just want to be listened to by someone who really cares.” After school, she studied community development at university and kept wondering how she could help the most marginalised people on the Gold Coast.
Thus was born Kayla’s Specialty Community Coffee, serving free cups of the right stuff to the Gold Coast’s homeless two nights a week as well as at Palm Beach’s Beachside Christian Church. “I bought a little trolley and a machine and off I went,” she says of her early days. Kayla responded to increasing demand by fundraising for a larger coffee machine, and she eventually got an Iberital IB7 Compact Two Group thanks to the generosity of Compak Grinders Australia and Clorox Australia.
Kayla is now serving around 70 people per night and the numbers keep growing. “They are always there with big smiles when I pull up, keen to help me carry the machine and my gear. It’s really something to see 10 men – who might be on drugs and suffering – light up when they get a coffee in their hands.” Some of the blokes have even begun their journeys to origin. “There’s plenty of fascination with the beans: I’ll have guys asking, ‘so where are they from this week?’ or ‘what are we trying this time?’”
Demand for Kayla’s coffee has gone to the next level with her training people in making coffee. There have already been some remarkable success stories, including that of the former drug dealer who now works for a major Gold Coast cafe and no longer lives on the streets. “And just last night I met two 15 year olds who are both living on the streets, and we started with some training. They just loved it. To see them light up while learning is something else. I would love to be able to get them into employment to take that next step.”
Helping her students with moving into the workforce is Kayla’s next big mission. But while she’s doing that, she’ll still be down at the beach in Coolangatta giving coffees to those in need. “I think we can never underestimate the power coffee has in bringing people together or the importance of simply listening to someone. Coffee allows people to stop and have that interaction, and when you see fruit come from that it’s very powerful.”
If you’d like to donate or help Kayla, email her at kscoffees@gmail.com
