Doing a latte good: coffee shop helps recovering teens

Eureka, Ca., (KIEM)- What if your morning ‘cup of joe’ could help someone struggling with addiction and homelessness? That’s exactly the founding principle of Redwood Teen Challenge’s Club 5:17 Coffee Shop. The non-profit is serving a lot more than mochas and espressos.

The coffee is donated by Jitter Bean. The workers are students in the Teen Challenge program, getting back on their feet, and earning job training, one cappuccino at a time.

“It’s to help train people in customer service, in dealing with money, helping people, and also we’re training baristas, so when they graduate our program they have a job skill.” Tom Throssel, the Executive Director of the program explains.

The money earned by the shop goes back into operation costs for Redwood Teen Challenge. The charity runs two shelters, with 84 beds in total.

“The importance of Redwood teen challenge is especially in Eureka for us is that we offer a place of hope for people that are struggling with addiction that really feel there’s no other place to go.” Throssel said, “They’ve burned all their bridges, they have no one else.”

Bernadette McArthur is the shop’s manager, and she deals with the baristas in training on a daily basis. “The customers that come in here, love the fact that there are students working here. That’s really exciting for them, just to hear their testimonies to listen to where they’ve come from and where they are now? It’s very encouraging to them.” McArthur says.

“When you see someone who was once hooked on heroine and is now doing good, they have a job and a life and a car, it produces something in you, that ‘I can do that too,’ or there is hope for my son or my daughter that’s struggling with addiction.” Throssel says.

McArthur says that from time to time people without homes will come in to the shop, asking for food and prayer. In those moments the students often offer support, free coffee, and their own lunches. Proving that the daily grind is meaningful to the workers as well, “It inspires them, just to be more giving and free with themselves.” McArthur says.

For the newly trained baristas, giving back… that’s sweeter than any frappuccino (with or without the whip).

Link

Embed

Copy and paste this HTML code into your webpage to embed.