Armed with stir sticks and food colouring Brian Leonard can turn lattes into works of art.
The Toronto-based celebrity latte artist — better known as Barista Brian — has traveled across the world showcasing his works of latte art for celebrities, but on Sunday he plied his trade in service of his hometown.
“If I can use the platform I’ve built with latte art to help others, then that’s what I want to do,” he said.
Leonard recently went viral when he created a Baby Yoda piece for Laura Dern.
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And on Sunday Leonard set up shop at Mill Town Roasters in downtown Fredericton to raise money for the city’s Out of the Cold shelter.
“I just want to know what I can do to help and how I can use my voice and platform to help others, especially in the winter. My heart goes out to anyone that doesn’t have a place to go or a home,” he said.
Mill Town Roasters’ director of operations Katie Martens said it’s important for the café to play an active part in the downtown community where Fredericton’s homelessness issue is most acutely felt.
“For us, it’s important being central to downtown we see a lot of, unfortunately, in our community a lot of homelessness and a lot of people that don’t have a place to go. for us it felt important to not only have the conversation but to do what we could to raise some money for the out of the cold shelter,” she said.
Fredericton has seen a spike in people living on the street over the last few years. It’s estimated that there are about 100 people sleeping rough in the city.
The Out of the Cold shelter on Brunswick Street sleeps up to 30 people and it’s hoped that it can transition to provide more permanent housing for people in the future. For now, to keep it running, it needs donations and Barista Brian is doing what he can to help out.
“I grew up in Fredericton, my whole heart is here and I just want to help,” he said.