Help Get Independent Grounds Back Open

I'm a single mother of 2 daughters, one of whom has special needs. As Emma neared high school graduation, I started to brainstorm our next steps. Along with many parents of children with special needs, there's a cliff that you come to once your child is no longer eligible for services from the school system. And as the adult years spread out in front of you as a vast dark unknown...can my child work, where would she/he be able to work, is it sustainable? Once I'm gone, who will take care of her? Will she be able to live independently or will she require care? Who will provide that care? Will I ever be able to retire and live a life separate from my child? 
 
To try and answer those questions, I embarked on a journey of opening a coffee shop that would primarily hire adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities like my daughter. Now mind you, I'd never a run  business before let alone managed employees. But I knew based on other businesses I'd researched that it could be done. I knew I'd have a range of employees to hire just in my daughter's peer group. And I felt like I'd finally found my calling...my way of giving back while also giving myself and my daughter a safety net. 
 
In December 2017, I quit my job as a paralegal and in March 2018, I opened Independent Grounds Cafe and it was awesome. I can't tell you the joy of seeing the smiling faces of my employees, many of whom were finally experiencing their first job. It was a hustle like any new small business of reaching out to the local community and asking them to give up their normal coffee routine and take a chance on us. In theory, it worked. But the reality of owning a small business and keeping the doors open was a challenge. Through some twists and turns along the way, in 2019 we ended up partnering with a church in Roswell, Georgia, that had a space they had designated for a coffee shop. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to expand and grow our concept of coffee+community+inclusion. And then COVID hit. Georgia shut down in March 2020 and we shut down along with them. Then the church decided not to continue the partnership with us. And for the next year, I focused on managing the virtual learning of my 2 daughters and isolating as much as possible from the pandemic while still holding out hope that one day we could return.
 
By the fall of 2020, I was in discussions with a developer who had recently built a student housing facility across the street from the football stadium of Kennesaw State University. It was a brand new space and an amazing location opportunity. I'd have 600+ potential coffee drinkers housed steps away and be on the bus route to campus. KSU has several programs for students with special needs and I hoped to partner with them to provide job training opportunities for their students. I could rehire the employees who haven't been able to work during the pandemic. It was a huge undertaking but one I thought could work. 
 
And then...my construction bids came in $100,000 more than my initial budget. It seems the pandemic has hit the construction business in multiple ways. Demand is now up but supplies are low. Costs are rising. And I'm now faced with finding funding resources that will allow us to build out the new space and get back on track with our dream. 
 
I'm asking for donations not just for me personally but for the employees who want so badly to get back to work.  All funds raised will be used for construction expenses and equipment purchases.

I know there are many causes that currently need funding. I'm asking for you to join me in an opportunity to share putting so many amazing members of your community back to work!


independentgroundscafe.com 
 
Many thanks, 
 
Lorna Heid