\u201cOne of our guiding principles is no one eats alone unless they want to, and so we plan to have hospitality volunteers who are just here to sit down with you,\u201d explained Rev. Jen Daysa, co-manager of the caf\u00e9. \u201cIf someone\u2019s a widow, or they\u2019re a teenager who got kicked out of their house or whoever they are, there\u2019s someone here to sit with you and talk with you if you want.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had, in particular, researched the loneliness epidemic and how many people eat all their meals alone. And we wanted to kind of address that somehow. Then the pieces started to fall together, and it was a whole evolution of getting to this vision that we have now.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mission statement is simple but transformative: \u201cBeloved Community Caf\u00e9 is a space of radical hospitality where good food and genuine connection are available to all, regardless of what someone can afford \u2014 where people find support in recovery, opportunities for spiritual growth, and a space to simply be.\u201d\u200b<\/p>\n
The substance-free community caf\u00e9 will also have the option to pay it forward, whereby customers pay extra to help fund a neighbor-in-need\u2019s meal, and a \u201cpay with service\u201d option for folks who don\u2019t have the financial means to cover their meal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can\u2019t pay, you let one of the volunteers or managers know, and we\u2019ll say, \u2018Yeah. Can you clean the windows, or can you help with this in the kitchen?\u2019\u201d said Daysa.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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From left: Rev. Jen Daysa (cafe co-manager and Reverend at Good Samaritan Church), Courtney Jones (cafe co-manager), and Blake Robbins (kitchen manager).<\/p>\n
Chef Blake Robbins will serve as the kitchen manager. Robbins previously ran a catering business that served local businesses, including the Imagine Museum and FloridaRAMA.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Beloved Caf\u00e9 will offer lunch service most days of the week (specifics are still being ironed out) and a community dinner at least once monthly with the vision of being a \u201cplace for people to come and gather\u00a0 with no-charge food, [to] get to know your neighbors, and people will live around you,\u201d said Daysa.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s just not a lot of that out there these days.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to program-free meal service, the space will be open a few afternoons a week as a Recovery Caf\u00e9. Recovery Caf\u00e9 is a nationwide network supporting people on the road to recovery by using a model with three commitments: being sober when on the premises, participating in a weekly Recovery Circle, and contributing to the caf\u00e9 through volunteering or other capacity.<\/p>\n
On Sundays, the caf\u00e9 will open up as Church Brunch and offer a space for worship and reflection. Though it operates as a distinct entity, the caf\u00e9 is housed within the Good Samaritan Church, where caf\u00e9 co-manager Daysa also serves as a pastor. She will lead Sunday services.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite the religious focus on Sunday, Daysa reiterates that the space is for everyone, regardless of creed:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a space to connect,\u201d she says. \u201cWe have about 10 partner churches that plan to contribute funds and volunteers. They\u2019re all progressive, inclusive churches, and we\u2019re going to have a strict policy that we\u2019re not trying to convert anyone. If you have to show your faith, you show it just through your actions and your love, not by trying to proselytize.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAny religious symbols that we have out on Sundays will be put away before it\u2019s community caf\u00e9 hours, because we really want this to be a space that anyone of any faith feels welcome here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daysa hopes that the caf\u00e9 is the start of a larger transformation in the community, one that\u2019s grounded in connections and mutuality.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think diverse strangers getting together across socioeconomic lines and all different lines of division and actually eating together is something deeply needed. We\u2019re so polarized right now, and we\u2019re not actually talking to each other. We\u2019re online talking into our little echo chambers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beloved, she says, \u201ccreates an epicenter of a beloved community, meaning that like that community and the connections kind of ripple out. I hope it\u2019s an example of where kind of love and neighborliness is done well, and that that also ripples out from us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd where people are nourished.\u201d<\/p>\n