A local social enterprise sets out every week to feed the body as well as the soul, while providing a training ground for people of all abilities.
The Aurora Community Café has been operating Wednesdays out of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church on Mosley Street for many years as something of an extension of the Commons Coffee and Catering, a non-profit that has become a fixture of the seasonal Newmarket Farmers Market during the past dozen years.
“The basic aim of the café is not just to offer homemade food and good coffee,” explains its founder and chief volunteer Susan Popper, “but to also involve others that are labelled with autism and Down syndrome.
“So the individuals get a chance to learn how to handle money, serve people,” clean up, learn how to work in the kitchen and understand heath department rules.
About a half dozen participants at a time learn about the many aspects involved in running a café and some will pursue a certification in safe food handling. But Popper says there is also an important community aspect that allows all those involved in the café to work with and be involved with others in the community. Members of the community, in turn, are able to see and experience the skills of some of its members.
In addition to coffee and tea, the café serves up a changing menu that could include soup of the day, mac and cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches, as well as baked goods.
The Aurora Community Café resumed operating in February on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. following the Christmas break and operates weekly until the end of May. By then the Newmarket Farmers’ Market is in full operation with an active café presence involving the same group and mandate.
“The whole aim here was to get young people with different abilities a place to work… that might not have the chance somewhere else,” explains Rev. Andrew Comar of Aurora United Church. “It’s a happy place to be.”
But at its heart, explained Comar, is the community. While the café does charge for its items, those who can’t pay are welcome to take a button from the button jar to use as currency.
The social enterprise has been successful in helping to equip those who work there with skills they now use in other work places.
“Our whole purpose was for them to understand it’s great to be working, making money, being independent and being in the community” while being able to demonstrate they can do things that could help them find a job, “AND serving good coffee,” says Popper.
The social enterprise works with the York Region District School Board providing working opportunities co-op students. Currently there are about six individuals working at the café with another six volunteers providing support. Popper welcomes the help of more volunteers to help run the café and help train the people working there.
Among the volunteers are a deejay providing music at the café. And often the clientele, made up of students, local businesses and members of the community, are known to get up to dance to the music.
The café’s profits are divided among the individuals who are working.
Comar says the café is just one of the many ways the community shows it cares for its members. In Aurora, alone, he says individuals can access several free meals through different initiatives every week.
“It’s incredible that people want to be part of a community that helps and supports others especially in the climate that we’re in,” he says. “It’s been a great pleasure to be part of the community café.”