News 22 November 2016

Russell Brand Donates Trew Era Cafe to Forward

Forward (Formerly known as RAPt) are delighted to announce that our Patron Russell Brand has donated the Trew Era Cafe to us.

After launching the Trew Era Café, and supporting it for a year, Russell Brand is donating the social enterprise in North London to RAPt, the charity that provides recovery and employment opportunities to ex-prisoners and people struggling with addiction.

As a patron of RAPt, Russell has long supported the charity’s work, which includes the provision of training and employment opportunities for ex-prisoners and recovering addicts.

RAPt’s London Recovery Hub, a place where the charity’s clients and others in recovery from addiction can find support, workshops, training and employment opportunities, is located next door to the Trew Era Café. The Hub already works closely with the Café team, and this transfer will strengthen the partnership. The Café becomes one of a group of ‘recovery enterprises’ supported by RAPt – independent businesses managed and staffed by people in recovery from addiction. The success of these enterprises demonstrates the potential of people in recovery to thrive in the workplace.

David Bernstein, RAPt Chairman of Trustees said: “This is a wonderful opportunity for RAPt to further strengthen our employment and enterprise activities for ex-offenders and recovering addicts. We’re enormously grateful to Russell for his generosity in donating the Café.”

Russell Brand said: “I’m donating this cafe to RAPt – a great charity that helps prisoners stay clean. If I ever get sent down I hope this’ll mean I get a cushy job in the library.”