Downtown Feature: ComeUnity Cafe and Creating Unity for the Downtown Community
“On a base level, its mission to feed and dignify the homeless is a beautiful one and particularly important in our downtown area where homelessness abounds,” said Katie Howerton, local Travel Creative, Graphic Designer, & Illustrator. “But I believe it also serves a deeper purpose of connecting people; I bring my two daughters, and they are always welcome and have come to recognize the people who work and dine there.”
Amy Crenshaw started the non-profit ComeUnity Cafe in November 2013 with the mission to love, to feed, to dignify. And they do just that to this day. ComeUnity serves the community from 11AM-2PM Monday-Friday by providing a meal for every person, whether they can financially afford it or not. Those who have the money are encouraged to donate to pay for their meal and someone else’s, but those who cannot afford to pay can volunteer for an hour, which pays for their meal. All their food is farm fresh and healthy, coming from local farmers or their own garden.
Amy started this nonprofit after her daughters experienced a gap year doing inner city ministry in Denver, Colorado, where there’s one of the largest populations of people experiencing homelessness. But while they were in Denver, they experienced a place called SAME Cafe, which stands for “so all may eat,” that was across the street from a park downtown, and this is where Amy’s daughters had the idea to do the same here in Jackson. Amy loved to cook and loved to feed people who cannot feed themselves, so this was the perfect concept for her to begin in Jackson.
“The cafe's vicinity to both nonprofits and services like Area Relief Ministries, the Jackson Arts Council, and our library makes it a natural place to gather for conversation about improving our community, and as downtown continues to grow with more local businesses like Peppermint Addie's & Co., Turntable Coffee Counter, and Havner's Frame Shop, it serves in making the area a place you can enjoy a full day,” said Howerton. “It's a truly special place that has become a part of my family and makes me proud to live in Jackson.”
Downtown Jackson just made sense for Amy’s family. She wanted to be placed in a spot that served the most people. The businesses and offices downtown have helped ComeUnity Cafe gain foot traffic and allowed Amy to provide healthy lunch options before there were any restaurants downtown.
“A lot of businesses I love either have an incredible mission or offer incredible quality, but few offer both, and ComeUnity Cafe does just that,” said Howerton. “I've been visiting for eight years and have never tired of it. I love that the menu changes each day but that I've also come to find genres of food they absolutely have perfected; you'll find me checking their menu many days looking for a mushroom soup, a BLT, or a buffalo chicken wrap.”
Amy explained that volunteers are both the most rewarding and the most challenging aspects of running ComeUnity Cafe. There are several volunteers who have volunteered for five years and are cherished by the staff as they see them continually serving and growing because of the impact of Amy and her team. It’s challenging to handle when volunteers have to occasionally be banned or disciplined because of various reasons, and Amy always has to be prepared to work with many different kinds of people. But Amy loves the people who enter ComeUnity cafe, she equalizes everyone by providing a space to commune and dine together, providing a community for every single person who enters the doors.
“I love knowing that somebody has come in here and someone has had a good, healthy meal,” said Amy. “And I love that people can sit at our community tables that don’t know each other, but most likely sit with people they’ve never met before.”