Charitable coffee shop selling Salvation Army coffee brand

A coffee brand produced by the Twin Cities Salvation Army is being sold at a new, charitable coffee shop owned and operated by Hope Community Church in Lakeville. The proceeds fund programs to help men in recovery.   

Doughnut Girl Coffee is now offered at Hope Café, a coffee house located inside Hope Community Church at 9623, 162nd Street West. The café opened Feb. 23 and operates weekdays from 6 a.m. – 9 a.m., when patrons can socialize, surf the Internet and watch TV.

“And, of course, we serve delicious Doughnut Girl Coffee,” said Hope Community Pastor Mark Bellows, adding that more than 160 cars rolled up during the café’s grand opening. The event was held in conjunction with a Salvation Army donation drive that garnered four truckloads of donated clothing, furniture and other goods.   

Doughnut Girl Coffee, offered in dark roast, light roast and decaf, is sold at Hope Café on a suggested donation basis. The coffee is also sold outside the café from a Salvation Army mobile feeding unit (canteen), a “drive-thru” for people on the go.

Every bag of Doughnut Girl Coffee the café buys for its inventory funds The Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center (ARC), a male inpatient treatment facility in Minneapolis; at the same time, every cup of coffee sold at the café funds Hope Community Church.

“Buying Doughnut Girl Coffee at Hope Café creates a philanthropic double-whammy,” said Major Paul Fleeman, commander of the Twin Cities Salvation Army.  “Every cup sold benefits The Salvation Army as much as it does Hope Community Church.”

The coffee/café partnership is a perfect fit because of a common goal: healing men in recovery.

The Salvation Army ARC, funded in part by Doughnut Girl Coffee, provides up to 150 men at a time with long-term, Christian-based residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation. The program is voluntary, free and funded mostly by sales at Salvation Army thrift stores.

Hope Community Church provides similar support through its Hope Recovery Transition Services program, which houses recovering men and provides them with employment training, transportation, spiritual care and financial management training.
Hope Community Church also provides marriage and family counseling services. Bellows, a licensed therapist, operates the program with counselor Valerie Anderson.

For more information about Doughnut Girl Coffee visit www.doughnutgirl.net.

For more information about Hope Community Church visit www.hope-cc.com.

Photo (from left): Mark Fagerwick, Executive Director, Hope Recovery Transition Services; Mark Bellows, Pastor, Hope Community Church; Valerie Anderson, counselor, Hope Counseling.