Inspired by other coffee shops around the globe that give back to their homeless communities, UCA student Caden Darby created a coffee shop with similar goals.
City Cafe is a temporary nonprofit coffee shop at 1832 Robinson Ave. All proceeds go toward helping the local homeless community.
City Cafe met its $1000 goal Friday, Oct. 7.
The coffee shop is part of Darby’s honors capstone project. He received a grant from the honors program that allowed him to go on a trip to visit multiple coffee shops in other states and open his own.
During this project, Darby partnered with the Bethlehem House because he loves how they care for the homeless population.
“Many places will give homeless individuals a place to stay and maybe a meal or two. This is incredibly helpful, however, it doesn’t fix the problem. Bethlehem House aims to solve homelessness at its root,” Darby said.
“They partner with the individual for two years and during that time, they will provide housing, meals, job training, life coaching and many other essential services in order to help the individuals get out of homelessness.”
A Sept. 25 photo that shows the inside of Darby's City Cafe. The cafe is part of Darby's honors capstone, a requirement of UCA's Schedler Honors College.
Darby also partnered with Niche Coffee and received one of their home coffee grinders.
With the help of his fiance, Lily, Darby has run the coffee shop each weekend since Sept. 17. By the end, it will have only been open for four weekends. The community response has been positive, so Darby is considering opening the shop for a couple of weekends next year.
The biology major opened City Cafe as his honors capstone project because of his fascination for coffee and the shops themselves.
“Coffee has always interested me. The drink itself is delicious, but more than that, I love that coffee shops can be a connecting point between so many unrelated individuals,” Darby said.
During his freshman year, Darby started a coffee shop called “Caden’s Cafe” out of his dorm room to raise money for a mission trip to South Africa. He raised nearly $500 in a single day.
“Since then, I’ve loved the idea of being able to bring back my coffee shop, but this time for a different purpose. I hoped to unite the city of Conway for the common cause of helping the homeless population,” Darby said.
Darby was also intrigued by the work done at other coffee shops around the U.S. He visited two coffee shops in Denver, one in Minneapolis and two in Chicago, all of which give back to the homeless communities in their area.
“I was able to meet with their owners and talk about why they do what they do and the practical side of what they do. They offered so much encouragement and said that they’d love to help out in any way they could,” Darby said.
The goal of City Cafe is to raise awareness of local homelessness.
“I believe that the homeless population is often marginalized and overlooked. Many people tend to think of homeless as a ‘big city’ problem, however, even in a suburban town like Conway, there are many individuals who are struggling with homelessness,” Darby said.
To get involved, he said he encourages the community to stop by for a cup of coffee. For those who can’t, Darby is taking donations through CashApp using $citycafe22. He also encourages people to donate to or volunteer with the Bethlehem House directly.
“This process has taught me that people want to be able to give towards a cause, they sometimes just need the proper outlet to do so. I’ve been privileged and honored to help be this outlet and for that, I’m incredibly grateful,” Darby said.
“I fully believe that we will reach this [$1,000] goal. This weekend will be the last weekend we’re open so I’m hoping that people will be inclined to visit and contribute towards the cause,” Darby said.
City Cafe serves lattes in a variety of flavors for $5. Mocha drinks are $5, pour-overs are $6, hot tea is $3 and drip coffee is $3.
This weekend will be the last chance to grab a coffee from City Cafe. The hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday and 12-5 p.m. on Sunday.