Goodness Weekly 6.10.24
"The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away."
- Pablo Picasso
What’s Good
We were so excited to see the community come out to celebrate One Another Coffee’s first birthday this past Saturday. This little green coffee trailer has become an energetic hub that brings a wide demographic of people who otherwise may not know about our campus and the work we are doing here. We cannot overstate the joy and inspiration the process of growing this business has brought to everyone involved, and we thank each of you for being a part of that growth.
We’re grateful for all the people who’ve given their time and creativity to help support this very special coffee trailer—Katie, Alexis, Suz, Kelly, Nancy, Bella, Che, Liz, Noelle, Mae, Gregg, Kyle, Taylor, Jamie, and many more! And thank you to all of our regulars—we love y’all.
Snag your limited edition tote bag celebrating One Another Coffee’s first birthday at the trailer now before they sell out!
Celebrating One Another
Message from Taylor Bates, Deputy Director, Sunset Ridge Collective
This past weekend One Another Coffee celebrated its first birthday, and I thought it would be a nice opportunity to do some storytelling about our favorite coffee trailer. It’s a story about trust, community, and a little bit of magic.
Back in 2020 Sunset Ridge Church of Christ underwent a year-long visioning process to reimagine what it means for the church to be a good neighbor. The Vision Team identified two ways to create new spaces for community to gather: converting our formerly underutilized one-acre parking lot into a neighborhood park (which became Charis Park) and having a coffee shop on campus. In 2021 the Sunset Ridge Collective was formed to activate our campus for the flourishing of one another and our neighborhood. Our small team had no idea how to start and run a coffee shop, but we trusted that it would happen when the time was right.
About a year later our executive director, Jess, received an email out of the blue from a woman named Katie Best-Richmond asking if we might be interested in letting her start a coffee trailer business in our parking lot. Jess immediately responded, they met over coffee (of course), and before long Rose Hip Coffee launched on our campus. Over that next year, Katie created just the space we had imagined but lacked the experience to make ourselves—one that served as a place for people to gather regularly and encounter their neighbors, ultimately creating new community connections, which we all so desperately needed in a post-pandemic world.
Rose Hip became so successful in its first year that Katie was presented with an opportunity to open a brick-and-mortar shop, which she did in Fall 2022. Recognizing that she would no longer have the capacity to maintain her trailer in addition to the new shop, she offered to sell the trailer to us. Our relationship with Rose Hip had affirmed our Vision Team’s belief that a coffee trailer could have a powerful impact on community building, but we were still hesitant to commit to running it ourselves until Alexis Novotny, who had been working for Rose Hip as a barista and had many years of relevant experience, offered to help us launch the the new coffee brand and program. I honestly don’t think we would have been confident enough to take on this feat had it not been for Alexis stepping forward to share her gifts.
We remodeled the trailer, launched a new menu, hired new baristas, and created a new brand, One Another Coffee, all with the intention of creating community, cultivating creativity, and promoting environmental stewardship. We prioritize sourcing our products locally and offer sustainably produced single-use products. We encourage customers to bring their own cups in exchange for a discount, and all proceeds from One Another Coffee go to support the creation and maintenance of Charis Park.
Katie has since launched a new business called Biscuit Baby that operates out of the commercial kitchen at Sunset Ridge Collective and provides baked goods for Rose Hip Market and One Another Coffee. The name Biscuit Baby was inspired by my daughter Simone, who just turned two yesterday. When I was pregnant with Simone, I ate biscuits from Rose Hip nearly every day of my third trimester, so Katie nicknamed her “Biscuit Baby.”
Since founding the Sunset Ridge Collective, the coffee trailer has been the primary source for community engagement on our campus. This small but growing coffee trailer has created a new little ecosystem of creativity, inspiration, sharing, caring, and connection. I consider this magical.
So trust that nudge. Follow your curiosity. Cultivate your creativity. And do it all within community, because it’s much more fun that way.
This Week
Creator Camp (June 10- July 3)
Coming Up
Campus Closed Wednesday, June 19th
Lunchtime Yoga Flow with NYX Wellness, Mon-Fri at 12pm, upstairs in Room 200 Sign up for your class here.
For weekly hours of One Another Coffee, Scott’s Pizza, and NYX Yoga, please feel free to check our calendar and follow us on Instagram for any updates.
Interested in more of what’s happening at Sunset Ridge Church? Please consider subscribing to Views from the Ridge.
Inhale:
The creative spirit is waiting
Exhale:
to be invited in
