Community Coffee Ambulance
Meet ‘Ripert’ (a French name, aptly pronounced: ‘repair’). Very much our labour of love, we are currently restoring this vintage 1979 Ambulance back to its former glory – albeit, this time he is adapting so our frontline staff can bring our speciality coffee and first aid training to the public.
Be sure to follow Ripert’s road to recovery on our blog and please consider donating to help us bring him back from the brink.
Can You Help Us?
Very much a work in progress, it is currently being mechanically restored with the engine, brake system and suspension being reworked and upgraded to tolerate use as a mobile coffee outlet. The purpose of Ripert is vital for our community engagement and social therapies.
Donations
We are crowdfunding Ripert’s revival in stages. Aside from some structural reinforcements the next stage is primarily aesthetics: Bodywork repairs, painting and trim. Skilled time, labour and extremely hard to find resources. There will also be some tweaks to the rear serving area too.
We are looking to raises £5000 to complete this stage, which should see it finally rocking up at events looking iconic and serving beautiful coffee.
Of course, it’s not all about money. If you have any relevant or specific advice/experience then we welcome any time you can offer.
Our Goal For Ripert
Through a combination of crowdfunding, volunteering, and general donations we can focus on restoring and repainting the exterior to help bring her back her original state.
We look forward to Ripert being a lovingly and accurately restored vintage ambulance that just happens to serve beautiful coffee.
Currently, we provide pop-up coffee stalls and first aid training at events, once Ripert is back from the hospital, it will become our coffee shop and hub of operations.
Crewed By Ambulance Staff
Our Priorities
The volunteering will be open to all pre-hospital staff, however our emphasis will be on volunteers who think it may help with their well-being or personal needs.
This will provide an opportunity for some to be part of a peer led team, learning new skills, and engaging with the public which may in turn provide unique mental health benefits.
We have found that this approach helps clinicians to get back among their peers in an informal environment if they’ve been off for an extended period.
This difficulty of returning to an ambulance work/social dynamic after a prolonged absence is a constant challenge our staff face.
Hiring Our Coffee Ambulance
Predominantly Ripert will pick up our regular event schedule however, much like our current coffee setup, it can be hired out for public or private events.
We are also currently attempting to trace the history of its life as a working ambulance so if anyone has any clues, please drop an email to [email protected]