Non-profits and other charitable organizations aren’t the only workplaces that do good. When Seth and Kelly Kelley, co-founders of RedTail Coffee in Fort Collins, Colo. opened shop in May, they decided that their business could make a positive difference in the world.
The coffee shop is staffed by two trained baristas and one employee who is currently homeless, Think Progress reports. According to RedTail’s website, the company has partnered with Fort Collins Housing Authority, Hand Up, and the City of Fort Collins to provide job training, educational opportunities, and careers to the local homeless community.
In fact, RedTail Coffee’s new employees will be exclusively hired from their immediate vicinity, Red Tail Ponds, a new residential project being built for local homeless and low-income individuals.
A February study found that in just Fort Collins, the homeless population has grown to nearly 300 people, about 50 more from just last year.
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The Coloradan reports that the Kelleys got the idea for their shop after attending a “heated” neighborhood meeting earlier this year, where some people expressed their fears and negative stereotypes over the new housing project. Kelly hopes that her coffee shop will “break that barrier.”
Seth told Think Progress, “It challenges the idea that people who are homeless are lazy or just aren’t working hard enough.” In fact, RedTail’s current homeless employee (unnamed in the article) has to wait in line every morning to shower at the shelter just to get ready in time for his job.
“It takes a tremendous amount of work, way more than the average person, just to get out of homelessness,” Seth said.
But it’s clear that taking a chance on someone who society might not be considered “hireable” is paying off. Reports say that in the few months the shop has been opened, the company has already turned a profit.
“It’s been a big learning curve for us all,” admits Seth, “but we’ve grown through the process.”
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Tag: Fort Collins
An Alternate Remedy for Suffering Veterans
For all the healing power that traditional medicine can provide, it doesn’t work for everyone. And for some of those individuals, alternative treatments can be the best medicine.
The Healing Warriors Program offers this to veterans who’ve tried every treatment that traditional medicine offers without success. The Fort Colllins, Colorado-based nonprofit gives five free visits for acupuncture, healing touch, or craniosacral therapy to each veteran who contacts them. If vets want to continue receiving treatment, Healing Warriors offers them at a discounted rate of $30 per session. For many — particularly those plagued with PTSD — the alternative treatments help when nothing else does.
Marine Corps veteran David Sykes has been visiting acupuncturist Abbye Silverstein since August for help with PTSD and a sciatic nerve injury caused by jumping out of helicopters when he was in the service. For years, walking and sitting have been painful. “I was hidden away with my pain and frustration,” Sykes told Sarah Jane Kyle of the Fort Collins Coloradoan. “This has helped me tremendously. I can’t say it will help everybody, but it helps me.”
Sue Walker, the director of the clinic, which is funded by donations, said that 90 different clients have visited Healing Warriors since it opened in last July. “It’s scientific,” she said. “It’s not voodoo. Most anything a veteran experiences on a physical level, acupuncture has been clinically proven to work for.”
Walker’s ultimate goal? To serve as many of those as possible that served our country. With the help of generous donors, she can do just that.
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