COLUMBIA, S.C. — Next week a brand new coffee shop will be opening that looks to offer hope, along with a cup of Joe.
The Oliver Gospel Roastery will open its doors Monday, October 26 to the public.
The coffee shop will roast its own coffee and the baristas will be clients of Oliver Gospel who are looking to get back into the workforce.
“Oliver Gospel has been working on this for several years now and I am so excited to be a part of seeing this dream come true," says Oliver Gospel Mission Executive Director Travis McNeal, “our tagline for our roastery is ‘transform coffee, transform people’ because when the bean comes to us in its first state, it’s green and it smells like grass and then when it goes into the roaster it changes in the middle and there’s really a moment in there that’s called crack and that bean cracks right in two- it transforms and turns into that beautiful smell and coffee that we love to drink," McNeal continues, “It’s really representative of what we believe that can happen in the life of an individual.”
Three coffee blends have been made already, the 1888- the year Oliver Gospel Mission came to be, the Hue Hue Blend and Toby's Roast- named after their women and children's facility.
Kwatika Canty is a recovering addict who resides at Toby's Place and was offered an opportunity to work at the new roastery, "I’ve been there for the past four months now and I was in the career development stages there and out of nowhere they contacted me last week for this position here- and I’m just so excited.”
This program will help Kwatika get used to the workforce again while working with a supportive staff who understands her needs, “I know for me, I felt this position was a blessing because being in my recovery of addiction, I thought this would be a safe haven for me to be back into society where I won’t have any hiccups to get me off of focus of my goals.”
The Roastery will be open to the public Monday-Saturday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
A soft opening will take place this coming Monday.