When is a coffee not a coffee? When it’s at Higher Grounds and is actually a way to help those in the community who could use a hand.
Higher Grounds opened its doors three weeks ago at 69A Dunlop St. W. and has been busy ever since. The coffee shop is in the old Hope City Church spot and for good reason; Pastor Kevin Mast and his dedicated crew have turned the corner of Dunlop and Mary into a place for second chances and hope.
“Higher Grounds is a social enterprise of Hope City and its goal is to create job opportunities and help provide social skills for those who might otherwise be difficult to employ,” said Mast. “Many of our people who are serving here come from places of homelessness, poverty and may even have marginalized in various ways through abusive relationships or toxic living conditions.”
Hope City Church has been assisting the downtown Barrie area for a number of years and focused on getting people off of drugs and the streets and turning their lives around through coffee and conversation. The church has been visible in the area and grew to the point of being able to start the coffee shop and using their main program to helping others. The program is a part of a larger one that is called Stepping Stones to Higher Grounds and will hopefully also include some supportive housing should that become available. Mast wants to use the transitional housing to assist those not just going through hard times locally but also to help those just coming out of jail.
“We really want the housing project to be a part of this program and we’re in the early stages of making that a reality,” said Mast. “Sometimes we’re able to help those just out of prison and we have a prison aftercare group as well as a community reintegration project; so each person has an individualized graduated mentorship plan. Each plan is individualized so they can work with a personal mentor here and work on goal setting whether spiritual, mental or related to job-skills. They get training here and the hope is they eventually move on to use those skills to move forward in life elsewhere.”
A really cool idea that Higher Grounds has for anyone looking to help is the suspended coffee and lunch program that uses the pay-it-forward method where you can come in and buy a meal or coffee for someone, put the receipt on a board at the back and anyone looking for help can discreetly pull it off the wall and use it to get a meal. You can also assist those in need just by grabbing a bite yourself says Mast.
“The revenue generated here is non-profit and is charity so all we do is carry our expenses and program fees,” said Mast. “Also though it is to allow us to spend on benevolence items for the people in the program once they’ve started to move forward; so like if they needed a bed or household items or groceries. As a church we’ve already been doing that but now hopefully through the revenue here we will generate enough to help even more.”
The system is already working as one person who was in dire need of help has become a great source of pride for Mast and Hope City; even as she was brought to them in what might seem as odd circumstances.
“We have a young lady who was in the midst of economic despair due to drug addiction and former abusive relationships who was actually invited to a church BBQ by her drug dealer,” said Mast. “Something in his life made him want to make a change and he saw us helping someone he knew by taking them meals. He brought this young lady to his baptism and she had previously lost her child to CAS and was really looking for help as well. She started coming around our Hope Centre and we built a relationship with her; she connected to our addiction program and from a faith perspective we saw the change happening. This young woman is now drug and alcohol free and has her child back into her life with full custody as well; she now mentors others.”
Higher Grounds runs exactly like a commercial business in that they are bound by the same health safety regulations as other establishments and are inspected as such. Food is ordered through suppliers and not donated or made at home and Mast says that while you’re helping people just by ordering something, you’re also getting a delicious meal while doing it.
“We have a delish little bit of everything here” said Mast. “Coffee, espresso, baked goods, paninis, breakfast sandwiches and soups; we have a lot of really good food here and hope you’ll stop in and see us and enjoy a meal and warm drink.”
