The Daily Reflector
By Kim Grizzard
Carol Preston is not a coffee person.
Tea, she likes, and hot chocolate. But she is simply not a coffee drinker, which is why it might have seemed odd that, when she accompanied her husband to a conference in Wilmington a few years ago, topping the list of places she wanted to visit was a coffee shop.
She had heard about Bitty & Beau’s, which is run by people with disabilities, and wanted to see it for herself.
She remembers looking with uncertainty at the menu board, when an employee named Matt asked if he could make a recommendation. For Preston, the encounter was more than a suggestion for a beverage; it was a step toward something bigger.
“I thought, ‘Why can’t we do that?’” she said. “If they can do it there, why can’t we do it here?”
Her answer is Awaken, a coffee shop that is being established locally to employ people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Preston’s interest in working with people with disabilities has been brewing since she first interacted with a group of deaf students in high school. Later, having a nephew with Down syndrome strengthened her desire to help people with special needs. She has volunteered with a number of projects involving special populations but was unsure of what else she could do until that visit to Bitty & Beau’s.
It wasn’t caffeine that awakened what Preston had been sensing quietly for a long time. It was compassion.
“I think it’s just kind of God’s been working on me for years and years and years,” she said.
“I don’t drink coffee. What am I doing opening a coffee shop? I’m not a business person, but I love people,” Preston said.
“Although I’m not in the special-needs community, I love the special-needs community. I’m getting into it now.”
Helping her get acquainted is Jennifer Dyson, a fellow member of Unity Free Will Baptist Church.
“I live in the special-needs world,” said Dyson, whose 15-year-old son, Ethan, has autism.
On Sunday morning, Preston approached Dyson at church to ask if she would like to be involved in establishing a coffee house that would hire people with special needs. Dyson jumped at the chance.
She woke up the next morning with the thought of naming the venture Awaken. “We are awakening your morning with coffee, your mind by interaction with our employees and your soul with Jesus,” Dyson said.
Within 24 hours, Dyson and Preston also had decided on the concept for what would become Lives of Purpose, a nonprofit organization that aims to enrich the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities by training them for employment.
While the current focus is to open a coffee shop, Lives of Purpose eventually could expand to include other enterprises.
“We agreed long ago that this is much bigger than us,” Preston said. “… We’ve thought about thrift stores, a car wash. There are all kinds of possibilities.”
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, people with disabilities have an unemployment rate that far exceeds that of other workers. Some estimates indicate that among teens and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, the unemployment rate is as high as 70 to 80 percent.
“There’s a huge population,” Preston said. “We just need to do something.
Awaken has plans to employ as many as 20 people with special needs, who will sell and serve beverages, salads and sandwiches. Although a location has not been established, Lives of Purpose is working to raise $300,000 to be able to open the doors.
“A lot of people ask why we are a nonprofit,” Preston said. “We do not expect to be self-sustaining.”
Lives of Purpose expects that sales will fund up to 70 percent of the costs to run Awaken, but the rest will come from donations from individuals and groups that want to support the special-needs community.
“This whole business is set up to help them excel, to learn skills,” Dyson said. “Our grand goal is really for them not to stay with us at all. We want them to come in, train, get comfortable and the rest of the community to see they have value, they can work and to offer them employment outside of us. We want to be a starting point.”
Lives of Purpose is working with Haervest Coffee, a North Carolina-based roasting company that shares its vision of employing people with disabilities. Former minor league baseball pitcher Toby Foreman, whose younger brother had autism and multiple sclerosis, founded the company with his wife, Cheri, after their son was born with Down syndrome.
Haervest has helped other organizations launch coffee houses run by people with special needs, most recently Moji Coffee and More in Winston-Salem.
“We want to be the heart behind other people’s vision,” Cheri Foreman said. “It’s a thrill when we can line up with a coffee company like Awaken who is intentionally employing individuals with disabilities at the storefront. For us, it makes the reach in the disability community that much richer and deeper and wider. … It just continues this ripple effect of inclusion and impact.”
In recent years, similar stores have opened across the country, including Cause Cafe in Long Island, N.Y., Perky Planet in Burlington, Vt., and A Special Blend in Greensboro. In 2017, Bitty & Beau’s founder Amy Wright was named CNN Hero of the Year. Bitty & Beau’s is set to launch its fourth location this fall.
“There is this narrative that’s changing in our culture that sees the opportunity to find employment opportunities (for people with disabilities),” Toby Foreman said. “It has certainly taken off from the perspective of people really understanding and … finding ways of making a difference through the purchase of coffee.
Cheri Foreman said the warm feel of a local coffee shop provides a perfect backdrop for creating a community of inclusion for people with special needs.
“Sometimes people aren’t sure how to interact with someone with disabilities,” she said. “Being in the forefront in a place right in your community … just helps people to realize everyone has capabilities and strengths.
Awaken, which has the motto “amazing coffee by amazing people,” aims to showcase employees’ abilities rather than disabilities.
“People love to live up to our expectations,” Preston said. “They can do so much more than we think.
“I want to see the potential brought out of people and see them live full lives,” she said. “I envision myself just standing in the back of the shop and watching the people be the best that they can be and be a blessing to other people. That’s what I want to see.”
Chick-fil-A, 4239 Winterville Parkway, Winterville, will host a spirit night from 5-8 p.m. on Thursday to benefit Lives of Purpose. An informational meeting about the nonprofit and Awaken coffee shop will be held at 2 p.m. Oct. 6 at Unity Free Will Baptist Church, 4301 Charles Blvd. Visit livesofpurpose.org.
Contact Kim Grizzard at kgrizzard@reflector.com or call 329-9578.