It is with relief and gratitude that Bean's Cafe will reopen to serve our clients on Thursday.
We are sincerely grateful our clients have received meals in addition to day and night shelter during our recent closure. There are so many individuals and organizations that stepped forward to make sure no one went hungry, or was left unsheltered. Churches opened their doors, businesses donated meals, individuals stepped up to volunteer -- all to ensure those most in need in our community were cared for. A special thank you to Catholic Social Services for providing meals and day shelter during this difficult time.
After 36 years of serving the most vulnerable in our community, having Bean's Cafe unavailable during this closure has been difficult for all involved. Yet, once again we are ever so thankful for the dedication of our staff, volunteers, partner organizations, donors, municipal government and for the whole Anchorage-area community for jumping in and helping during this time to serve those in need and to work wholeheartedly in reopening our doors.
The issue surrounding the closure occurred on Feb. 17 when Catholic Social Services/Brother Francis Shelter used our facilities for emergency nighttime shelter overflow. The cafe's agreement for overflow shelter support with Brother Francis has been in place for many years and ensures evening shelter is provided when winter temperatures drop below 45 degrees. Together with our partners, we have been diligent in assessing and addressing the cause and effects of the health-related incident. It has been an arduous process but our clients, community and safety-net services will emerge stronger because of it.
We appreciate Arctic Catering donating its services to us to develop and implement restaurant-industry standard protocols in sanitizing and preparing Bean's Cafe to safely reopen. Appreciation also goes to ServPro for ensuring our facility meets the expected standards. With their help, we will be ready on Thursday to continue our mission of providing safe, warm day shelter, hot meals and referrals to services.
Anchorage has a warm and generous heart. The board, staff and volunteers at Bean's Cafe care deeply about our clients. Knowing we have the community and our partners supporting us means so much.
Our current need for Bean's Cafe is to restock our shelves. Over 20,000 pounds of food and supplies had to be discarded during the cleaning process. Wells Fargo has made the generous commitment to match every cash donation, dollar for dollar, up to $10,000 between now and March 31. To make a donation you can visit our website at www.beanscafe.org or mail a check to Bean's Cafe, PO Box 100940, Anchorage, AK 99510.
Our largest annual fundraising event, The Empty Bowl Project, will be held on March 12 at the Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center. Please support us by attending the event, making a donation or dropping off nonperishable food items from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in front of the Dena'ina Center. Event tickets may be purchased at our website.
On behalf of the staff and board of Bean's Cafe we want to express our deep appreciation to our volunteers, donors and partner organizations in Anchorage for your support and care of our clients.
Lisa Sauder is executive director of Bean's Cafe in Anchorage.
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