For the love of coffee and the community

IF you think the Starbucks brand is just about coffee, think again ... or visit its social media platforms to discover the engaging lifestyle brand.
In the Klang Valley, Starbucks Malaysia recently hosted 90 children from Hope Worldwide Kuala Lumpur, Sekolah Kebangsaan Jalan Batu and Rumah Titian Kaseh to a day of fun through creative writing and drawing. Together with its employees, customers, non-profit partners and business partners, the adults took on the role of volunteers and engaged with the children aged between 10 and 12, in an initiative themed “Empowering Young Minds”. The objective of the event, held at Sunway Putra Mall in Kuala Lumpur, was to inspire and empower children to be creative and express themselves through drawing and writing.
COMMUNITY SERVICE
Starbucks senior manager of public affairs and digital strategy Salleharon Ahmad shared insights on the initiative. “Starbucks today has grown to become a lifestyle brand. We are proud to say we have quite a number of loyal fans, some 400,000 followers on Facebook and over a million across social media websites. We wanted to do something with this ‘connection’ we had and decided to pose the question on-line to ask the people we were engaged with, how we could bring all our fans and customers together to better society and empower people. This is the result of it,” said Salleharon.
On a larger scale, some 1,000 children from nine locations across Malaysia were empowered through Starbucks Global Month of Service 2016. The programme saw adult volunteers happily engaging in inspiring and guiding the children, encouraging and sparking ideas to use their creativity and imagination. There were volunteers from colleges, corporations and companies, individuals from NGOs and foundations, even ordinary citizens, plus Starbucks fans and customers.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Starbucks Global Month of Service is a significant event in the Starbucks calendar. It is through this event that partners, customers, nonprofits, civic leaders and business partners come together to create lasting and meaningful change in the communities it serves.
Starbucks Malaysia and Brunei managing director Sydney Quays said that he always believed that partners join Starbucks because they believe that the brand and company stand for something bigger. “And Global Month of Service is a big part of what standing for something bigger is actually about. Every Starbucks store is part of a community and Starbucks is committed in strengthening the neighbourhoods in which we do business in,” Quays added.
Like cells created to grow positive environments, Starbucks stores allow their partners and customers to connect, assist and create meaningful opportunities to help strengthen and build better communities.
CATALYST FOR CHANGE
Now with more than 3,500 partners (the term used for Starbucks employees), and 215 stores nationwide, there is more opportunity for the brand and its network to do more for the community.
Starbucks Malaysia has, over the years, engaged with 4,386 volunteers and participated in more than 38 projects contributing about 62,735 community service hours. In 2015, the brand conducted four Global Month of Service projects involving 458 volunteers, which benefited 300 over young people.
“We look forward to building upon the great work of our partners and customers in the years ahead. By being a catalyst for engagement in service, we believe that we can create opportunities in communities that will result in long-term individual, social, economic and civic benefit,” Quays said.
On a larger scale, it looks as though this “third space” has found itself a place in the hearts of many, not just coffee lovers. For more information, log onto Starbucks Facebook page or other major social media websites.