How does a nonprofit
coffee shop work?
Isn’t it just a drop in the bucket?
How can one drop make a difference? We get asked this type of thing all the time…
One drop can make a difference- especially if many of us are using our time, talents, and treasures to help others. You’ve heard it said, “Many hands make light work”. I would venture to say “Many drops can overflow the bucket!” It really does take village.
How does a Nonprofit Coffee shop work?
According to Webster’s Dictionary, a nonprofit is “not conducted or maintained for the purpose of making a profit”. We are a minstry first and a business second. We exist IN OUR COMMUNITY FOR OUR COMMUNITY. (You will hear this said a lot.) Our focus is doing life with our neighbors and loving people because Life Is Hard and Love Is Heavy! We value partnerships with our community members that support us financially and through volunteering.
Where do proceeds go? Staffing. Operational Costs. Programming. Events. Community Support.
Do we pay our staff? Yes. But honestly- not as much as I would like to. My staff is great! Any of us could work at other jobs and make more. But for most, that’s not why we stay. We stay to serve our community. That being said, we also have volunteers that are very valuable to the life of Harvest! Volunteers do everything from baking to leading game times with Youth.
We have costs like a standard business and our budget is TIGHT! We pay for utilites, paper supplies, groceries, insurance, and lots of things like that. We are always looking for ways to save money and are quite frugal. We want to be the best stewards of what we’ve been blessed with. Sometimes you will see that we put needs out via social media. We have volunteers that have painted our garden shed, replaced doors and flooring on the shed, spread mulch, taken down trees, and countless other things. We send out around 20 meals daily for Senior Home Delivered Meals in the Milford and Syracuse communities through Kosciusko Senior Services. These things all have costs involved.
Programming and Events help us fulfill part of our mission. We rely on partnering with volunteers and staff to oversee and carry those out. Making learning fun is a great way to encourage us to keep learning! We host a wide variety of programs and events- game times, cooking and baking classes, ladies fitness classes, gardening classes, art classes, guitar classes- to name just a few. Our staff also oversees almost a dozen Student Vocational Volunteers that learn real job skills while volunteering. Students learn age-appropriate skills that they can use at home and in the future workforce.
We want to use our shop as a tool to build community with our neighbors! Part of our mission is making everyone that crosses our path feel welcome whether it’s in shop or out and about! While we can’t physically be a part of all the great things in Milford, we can cheerlead things like the Milford Food Bank, our local Van Buren Food Pantry, LITE, Made On Main, and Milford School. Karena is currently serving on the board of Meet Milford- a nonprofit that strives to unite, strengthen, and foster pride in Milford.
How can you help?
Volunteer- If not here, find a place that best fits your skills and passions. Do you have special skills that you might be able to teach others? Reach out and we can see if that might work as a class for our community.
Donate- We whole-heartedly believe that God’s timing is always perfect when we recieve donations. As a nonprofit, our “profit” margin is vertually nonexistent. All income goes right back into our organization with the exception of donations that we give to support projects in our Wawasee community. There are times when sales are low and we aren’t sure how things will shake out at the end of the month. But God. He always has a plan bigger than ours and proves His faithfulness over and over.
Speak up- Believe it or not- there are Milford folks that have never heard of us. We are small town but with mighty resources for our surrounding friends and families. Talk about us with your collegues and your friend groups. Are you involved in a club or social group? Think about partnering with us on a project. We always have something going on!
Cheer us on!- (Actually, cheer on all the awesome things in Milford!!) Sometimes, especially when finances are tight or staffing changes, it can be discouraging. A word of encouragment goes a looonnngg way!
PRAY- We would love for you to pray for us! The enemy hits hardest when wonderful things are happening.
If you’d like more information, reach out to Karena at milfordharvestcoffee@gmail.com. She’d love to share more about Harvest. She also loves to visit groups and share the heart behind this Milford ministry.