Support Cooperative Coffee baristas post-Helene!

Hello friends! We recently opened our first coffeeshop at 210 Haywood Road in West Asheville after almost 5 years as a roasting company. Due to the devastation of Hurricane Helene, our city of Asheville has lost water indefinitely until infrastructure can be rebuilt. The timeline is very uncertain for when water will return, but we are hearing that it will be weeks.

We cannot operate our café without municipal water, so we are asking you to help us offer support to our barista staff of 8 people. We love our team so much! We are all feeling a lot of pain and grief around the destruction in our city.

Since opening, we have committed to pay a living wage to our staff of $22.10 per hour, certified by Just Economics. Tips are included in this on top of their hourly base wages. This means that their applications for government assistance will be based on a lower hourly wage. Please think of this space as an online tip jar to help our beloved crew meet their most basic needs of food, water, shelter, and transportation.

Your financial support can help bring ease and security to our vulnerable people while we navigate this unprecedented situation. Thank you for all of your messages, thoughts, and prayers.