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Local Café in Liverpool Serving a Bigger Purpose Local Café in Liverpool Serving a Bigger Purpose

By Cameron Cortigiano

CAM CORTIGIANO: The Hope Café in Liverpool has a much bigger purpose than just serving up coffee and sandwiches. One hundred percent of the profits go to The People Project, an organization that provides assistance to impoverished communities around the globe. CEO of both the café and charity, Matthew Cullipher, said the main goal of the project is in its name.

MATTHEW CULLIPHER: We’re The People Project, meaning that it’s about people who are helping other people.

CAM CORTIGIANO: How exactly does the charity help people? Well for starters- by feeding and educating people on 4 continents and 13 countries- something Cullipher never could have imagined when he started in Peru 17 years ago.

MATTHEW CULLIPHER: Even when we built the school, the last thing I had in mind was: Oh, now we’re gonna do Africa, and a bunch of other places in South America, and Asia, and tons of stuff here in the U.S. It just wasn’t on my radar, I just wanted to help that one little village and that was it.

CAM CORTIGIANO: Right now, the organization is focused on its projects in Kenya and Zambia, but Cullipher hopes to expand in the near future, which would allow him and The People Project to touch even more lives, on top of the half-a-million that they’ve already impacted.

MATTHEW CULLIPHER: At this point, we went from our school in Kenya to now three schools in Kenya, and the school in Zambia which didn’t exist before. And so now there’s 850 students between our three schools, and this place pays for 90 percent of their food and education.

CAM CORTIGIANO: Cullipher believes that you don’t need to be a millionaire to have an impact, all you need is dedication, sacrifice, and a little bit of hope. Reporting from Liverpool, I’m Cam Cortigiano, NCC News.

LIVERPOOL, N.Y. (NCC News)- The Hope Café is different from other local coffee and tea places, and it is not because of a special drink it serves. All of the profits go to The People Project, a non-profit organization founded in Syracuse. The project provides assistance to people who live in impoverished areas around the world.

CEO of the restaurant and charity, Matthew Cullipher, said that the number one mission of the project can be found just by looking at the name.

“We’re The People Project, meaning that it’s about people who are helping other people,” Cullipher said.

The mottos “People helping people” and “Hope is contagious, pass it on!” support the charity’s goal of providing food, clean water, an education and more.

The project started 17 years ago in Peru, where Cullipher and others helped one small village build a school and church. Now the charity has expanded, helping people on four continents and in 13 countries, which is something that Cullipher never could have imagined.

“Even when we built the school, the last thing I had in mind was: Oh, now we’re gonna do Africa, and a bunch of other places in South America, and Asia, and tons of stuff here in the U.S,” Cullipher said. “It just wasn’t on my radar, I just wanted to help that one little village and that was it.”

Currently, The People Project is doing work in Kenya and Zambia, but Cullipher has high hopes that there will be even more projects in the future, in those two countries but also in other places.

“At this point, we went from our school in Kenya to now three schools in Kenya, and the school in Zambia which didn’t exist before,” Cullipher said. “And so now there’s 850 students between our three schools, and this place pays for 90 percent of their food and education.”

The Hope Café has been instrumental in raising funds for the charity to provide more assistance to those who need it. It has been so successful that there is another café being planned on Route 57 in New York to bring in more money for current and future projects.

Visit their website at https://thepeopleprojectin.wixsite.com/peopleproject to learn more.

 

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