NIMBY 101 Cafe and Sober Social Hall- Two enterprises still in development

Our Cafe will not be here to make a profit, but to make a difference.

 

Why the name, you may ask?

NIMBY is an acronym for “not in my backyard”- which has negative connotations. We want to turn that statement on its head and make it stand for not letting people fall through the cracks.

 

Our talented CEO even wrote a song about it: https://youtu.be/qyvDiAPtN0w

You will find the lyrics of the song on the wall of our Cafe at our Grand Opening. Here is one verse and the chorus

Does my brother need to keep on hurting?

Does my sister need to have nowhere to turn?

I’d like to believe that No, No, No! Not in my backyard but

Can I take the time to learn?

Can I take the time to learn?

 

What can I do and where do I begin?

Can I take the first step to let go and let’em in?

If I see them as my neighbour, can I love them as my friend?

Is that the only way this downward spiral’s gonna end?

Out in my backyard…

 It starts in my backyard.

 

• We can provide physically distanced spaces for social gathering.

• We will offer take-out and delivery options.

• We will employ people who need a flexible workplace experience to overcome barriers and support their professional and economic growth.

• We want to be a place where people can come to find friendly connections and meet interesting people, to learn from each other and share life wisdom. We will post questions for the day to help open up dialogue between strangers.

• We will post important information about resources and how people can help or get help

• We will host meetings for community groups who would like to collaborate to help things go better in our community

• We want to be able to provide meals to those who need them through the profits of our Cafe, and through meal sponsorships to support helping individuals and families to get what they need.

• The profits of our Cafe will go toward inclusive programs and bringing people together to learn and grow in a safe space.

• Our Cafe kitchen will provide an affordable meal service (link to the order page here) and a meal card program. (link to the program here).

• We will be able to cater for meetings or events delivered elsewhere, or on site if you rent one of our spaces (link to space rentals here), which provides more employment opportunities!

• With the accompanying HeARThbeat Sober Social Hall, we want to provide a safe, sober venue so that people who don’t drink or who are in recovery can have a cool place to hang out, eat great food, have fun drinks and entertainment without all the hang ups that come with going somewhere that serves alcohol.

 

101 is the street our double glass doors are on, but it also signifies learning the basics. People who work here are learning the basics of employment in the food business, and how to do well in a workplace.

And we hope that in our inclusive space, we can all learn the basics about each other and how to walk together in a good way.

So… NIMBY 101

Doing community, a bit differently