Esquire Coffee Houses, a coffee shop franchise, offers potential franchise owners the chance to join a business with a charity commitment. Through its ongoing commitment to the One Water charity, Esquire Coffee Houses has helped to fund a Playpump scheme, which will bring clean fresh water to hundreds of children and their families in the Pella Community of South Africa.

The Playpump has been installed at Masome Primary School, Pella, and uses a schoolyard roundabout to bring water to the surface as the local children play. Customers have helped to fund this project by buying Esquire bottle water, as the company donates 10 pence from every bottle of water sold to the charity.

Peter Kirton, Managing Director of Esquires Coffee Houses UK, said: 'This is a fantastic achievement for our customers and we'd like to thank each and every one of them for helping us build what we hope will be the first of many One Water Playpumps.

'In little over a year, simply through their choice of water, our customers have funded a simple yet life changing project that will effect hundreds of children. If you add to this our support of Fairtrade, Coffee Kids and numerous UK charities it's clear to see the real difference our customer community is making and we're extremely proud of this.

'Members of the Esquire team have been lucky enough to visit the well since it was built and they're completely overwhelmed by the experience and the gratitude of the local people. Most importantly, they were able to see how much the children thoroughly enjoy playing on the roundabout, a sight I wish all of our customers could see first hand.'

Reneilwe Masoko, aged 12 is a pupil at Masome Primary School, commented: 'It is amazing to experience the fun of this wheel. I play on it at break time with my friends.'

Published: 1 June 2009

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