Community

When we created the concept of a botanical gelato boutique back in 2016, our vision was for our gelato to make the world a better place – for ourselves, our colleagues, our customers, and the communities that make up who we are.

We believe that small businesses like ours can play a role in supporting the communities that all of us live in by connecting people, resources, and ideas.

“No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.” Martin Luther King Jr.

Our first community project was in 2017, where we distributed gelato to migrant workers at a soup kitchen called The Cuff Road Project. It was here that we learnt first-hand about the challenges they face working visibly for us and yet living invisibly amongst us, and this reinforced the raison d’etre for Birds of Paradise Gelato Boutique.

"It’s good to be blessed. It’s better to be a blessing.” Jerry Smith

On our third anniversary in 2019, we reflected on how we could meaningfully give thanks for the overwhelming blessings we had received, and we decided to donate all our sales over the anniversary weekend to a community cause. That kicked off a long-term community partnership with EQUAL, a young charity organisation that uses Animal-Assisted Intervention to empower people to deal with life’s challenging situations. We continued this campaign again on our fourth anniversary weekend, and it looks like we have started our own little tradition that we hope will run for a long time!

“The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life.” Jane Addams

In these past years, we have had the privilege to support the loving work of EQUAL, HealthServe and Wild Rice through donating funds, raising awareness, volunteering, and ideating with them; and had the opportunity to work with like-minded local businesses (In Good Company, Books Actually, Petit Pain, Mud Rock Ceramics, Edith Patisserie) in creating a Little Community of Good to bring businesses together to support the community. Our community work continues as we take it one step at a time to make the world a better place. #bopforgood