SYMPOSIUM Coffee drinkers have ‘bean’ raising thousands for charity

Stroke survivor Paul Haggath was determined to give something back to Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland for the help he received during his own recovery.  

And the owner of SYMPOSIUM Coffee, a chain of coffee shops in the north-east of Scotland, found the perfect fundraising idea on his own doorstep.  

Paul arranged for his chain’s takeaway coffee cups to be emblazoned with the CHSS logo and donated 25p from every takeaway drink sold during the month of May, raising an incredible £3,000 for Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland.

Giving back

Paul said: “This was a great opportunity to be able to give back to Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland. After I had a stroke back in January 2018, I never thought something like this would be possible.”  

When he isn’t pouring perfect lattes, Paul is busy with wife Wendy and his four daughters but finds time to keep fit with regular visits to the gym. 

He puts much of his own recovery down to the quick actions of Wendy, who knows what stroke symptoms look like and called an ambulance immediately when she found Paul slumped behind their bathroom door three years ago. 

The coffee cups were emblazoned with Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland’s logo for a month to help raise money and awareness of stroke.

Paul was taken to hospital and had thrombolysis within three hours. This is the process where a clot-busting drug is administered to disperse the clot that caused the stroke and return the blood supply to the brain.   

His speech and movement were quick to return, and he was released from hospital after just two days. Weekly visits from a Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland stroke nurse to help with his recovery started soon after. 

Raising awareness

Awareness about is stroke is key for Paul, so he was delighted with the end results of his chosen charity month.  

He said: “We’ve been blessed. We have 10 coffee houses and lots of customers buying coffee. So we thought there was no better way to spread awareness than to put Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland on the cups.  

“We’ve been trying to make people aware of the charity and of the effects of a stroke and how quick action can save lives.  

“We sold 10,000 coffees and we’re delighted to have donated £3,000 to a charity that’s very close to our hearts.”

To find out more about how you can get creative and raise money for us at work, at home or at school, please visit chss.org.uk/fundraising