It’s not just a cup of coffee. It’s a cup of hope.
The Gospel Center Rescue Mission in Stockton strives to produce success stories. But when graduates of the New Life Program — clean, sober and energized — are ready to take on the world, finding jobs can be a challenge.
About seven months ago, an idea began to percolate with CEO David Midura.
Midura noticed how some companies donate a portion of their profits to charity. Customers can go about their everyday lives knowing they are helping those in need every time they make a purchase. What better way to instill a work ethic and give the mission’s residents their first step back on the road to independent living, he figured, than to have them work on a product with its own perks.
His vision: Church Street Coffee.
Compared to other coffee brands, Church Street stands apart. All profits are poured back into the mission, which shelters unhoused individuals, transforms lives and helps addicts in kicking drug or booze habits. Gospel Center includes housing for up to 357 people a night and feeds up to 1,500 people a day. An expansion is underway that will add an additional 130 beds.
Maybe, Midura thought, people will eschew the big coffee chains in favor of a mug of java that gives back to the community.
“Instead of enriching Peet’s,” Midura explained — or for that matter, Starbucks, Dutch Bros. or Dunkin’ — “we’re going to enrich a whole lot of other people’s lives.” To underscore that message, Church Street puts a heart on every bag of coffee it sells.
The coffee’s name comes from the 85-year-old Gospel Center Rescue Mission’s location: Church and San Joaquin streets.
The mission’s recovering residents roast and bag coffee beans at Church Street. Then they hit the streets to hawk the coffee to grocery stores, restaurants, businesses and anyone who craves their morning joe.
Success is served one drop at a time. A big electrical contracting company ordered 10 pounds a week for its employees. Fifteen restaurants run by a single owner in Oregon plan to serve Church Street Coffee. Potential customers are learning about the brand at community events. The mission hopes to line up more subscriptions.
The endeavor is led by three graduates of the mission’s New Life Program — Laurie Holloway, Shelby Cordova and Lindsey Medina. The program combines religious devotion, work experience and classes to get addicts back on track. There have been 11,230 graduates since 1995, Midura said.
Holloway’s story echoes many who’ve struggled with addiction or homelessness. Her father was an alcoholic. Her mother abandoned the family when she was 2. At age 5, she was put in foster care, constantly bouncing between group homes until she aged out of the system. She later hooked up with a mentally unstable boyfriend who was involved in drugs, and the two were living in their car in Florida for a time.
A series of unfortunate events led them to California, but the law came looking for Holloway’s boyfriend, who was wanted in Missouri. The pair tried to hide out in a vineyard in Lodi, but the cops nabbed them both.
Holloway wasn’t part of her boyfriend’s criminal investigation, so police planned to cut her loose. But before they did, one of the arresting officers made a phone call.
“They dropped me off at the Gospel Center Rescue Mission. And I just stayed,” said Holloway, 39. “I decided I wanted to stay and better myself without the guy.”
That was two years ago. During her time at the mission, she got sober and dedicated her life to Christ. She is working on earning a high-school diploma and has moved into a sober-living house with three roommates.
After she graduated, Holloway said Midura approached her about joining the coffee venture. (No wonder he says, only half in jest, noting that his CEO title at the mission stands for “chief encouraging officer.”)
Holloway leaped at the chance.
“I love coffee, so I was like, ‘Heck, yeah, I’ll help!’ So we started roasting beans and learning — learning the science behind the beans and roasting it and bagging it up,” she said. “And we’ve been printing out flyers and emailing churches and just trying to get the word out there.”
By contrast, Medina and Cordova say they were raised in relatively stable, two-parent households, but later fell into drugs and ran with the wrong crowd. Both hit bottom and turned to the mission and the New Life Program to pull themselves out of a tailspin.
The women bubble with enthusiasm about the fledgling business.
“There’s so much about coffee that’s amazing,” said Cordova, 30, even though she’s not a coffee-drinker.
Church Street’s biggest seller is its Indonesia dark variety. There also is an Ethiopian medium roast as well as the mission’s signature blend. Individual 12-ounce bags sell for $16, and a 5-pound bag costs $80. Decaf varieties are also available.
Medina, 31, said she loves how the women have worked on the project together.
“I’ve gotten to watch these beautiful ladies come in and grow, and I’m so very proud of them,” she said of Cordova and Holloway. “They’re doing wonderful, and yeah, we’re excited.”
Midura points out that coffee isn’t Gospel Center’s only business. It also runs a nonprofit painting business, Clean Slate Paint. Both Church Street and Clean Slate have the same goal, stemming from the mission’s mission: Provide solid work experience to those moving forward from troubled backgrounds.
The result: A better life for all involved.