05/05/2021
Hi Folks,
The entire SchoolGrounds Coffee House team wants to express our heartfelt gratitude for the kindness, encouragement and grace you’ve extended to us over these too many months apart. Our desire to serve you and to be a place of inspiration, restoration, and True Community has never flagged. About fifty years ago, my grandfather said something to me that I failed to fully understand until just a few years back. He was philosophizing while we cut firewood together, and I commented that it seemed like he never tired. Instead, he seemed to get stronger the longer and harder he worked. He looked at me side-eyed, and said with a grin, "Davey-boy, a plow horse with no plow to pull will simply wither away.” I wish I could tell him now that I understand.
Over the years we've made thousands of friends who have come through the doors at the old Gaston School building, the home of SchoolGrounds Coffee House. One of the original hand-quarried slates from 1911 still hangs on our wall. Imagine the chalk it has seen: diagrams, assignments, and “I will not [something]” written a hundred times. For the past 8 or 9 years the words we placed on that slate haven't changed – an expression of one of our core values.
"The main things are the plain things, and the plain things are the main things"
To us, the “main things” and the “plain things” all tend to revolve around our fundamental motivation: True Community.
And in the spirit of True Community, let’s talk about main and plain things as we consider the future of SchoolGrounds Coffee House (and the role you’ll play in that future). As most of you know, we decided to mothball our operation early last summer as the developing pandemic began to change lives dramatically. We knew we could not remain solvent in the short term with the restrictions in place. We chose a longer strategy, hoping to emerge from hibernation at an appropriate time. Well, it feels like that time might finally be approaching. We’ve been discussing how it might happen, and how to address new and remaining risks.
Ah, risks. Everything about life involves risk, right? Looking at the road before us, we still see an uncomfortably large number of them. Don’t get us wrong, we’re optimists, and we understand that risk can be a good thing – when you have a way to manage it. Right now, there are some risks over which we have no control; the levers are in the hands of others (including you). Our top-of-mind issue: how durable is the reopening of society likely to be? Are enough people going to step up and do the things that need to be done to keep everyone safe?
Coming back out of hibernation is a big and costly effort. It’s going to take time and resources to wake up our old schoolhouse, and do so sustainably. We need to be confident that our invested time and treasure will be matched by the efforts of our community of friends... in everything from wise health decisions to steady commerce.
So, now, down to the “main” and “plain” things. Thank you, sincerely, to the folks who have taken advantage of our online coffee subscription. You’ve helped us keep some cash flowing through purchase of our coffee – in full, one-pound bags! People are pleasantly surprised when they receive 16-ounce packages, not the twelve ounces that seems to have become “a pound.” We sell a full pound for a great price – we’re in an old school house, and Mr. Handwerker, who taught my business partner math, would be roundly disappointed to hear that we thought 12/16 = 16/16.
Over the last several months, we’ve been asked countless times about our needs and our plans, and how folks can help. How can you most effectively help SchoolGrounds? Go to our Facebook Shopify store (schoolgrounds-coffee-house.myshopify.com) and enroll in a personal coffee subscription. Here’s the win/win:
We need reliable revenue in order to come back online. We want you to have a steady supply of our exquisite Morning Bell roasted coffee blends for your own home.
Commit to a one-year subscription for 2 pounds of roasted beans per month. That’s under two dollars a day...less than the retail cost of a 12 ounce brewed coffee. The subscriptions we offer are ongoing and automatically renew, and you can gift them to others too! You can of course cancel at any time, but please don't! Staying subscribed for two years would be even more helpful. And then, tell every coffee lover you know about our Morning Bell roasts, and convince them to subscribe too. They’ll thank you for it once they experience what you already love about our coffee. If you subscribe and spread the word, you are the key ingredient of SchoolGrounds’ future; you declare yourself part of our True Community.
schoolgrounds-coffee-house.myshopify.com
We have ambitious goals. Getting a thousand subscriptions sets us firmly on the path to re-emergence. Twelve hundred boosts our confidence considerably. Fifteen hundred annual subscriptions, we have every reason to think that we can begin to serve you again in all the ways we have in the past, with exciting new opportunities opening up as well! While these numbers sound big, they’re modest in the universe of social media. Again, get your networks involved. Partner with us on this and let’s once again experience True Community at SchoolGrounds Coffee House!
The SchoolGrounds Coffee House Team is stepping into the traces of the plow. Join us – many hands make light work. A big challenge? Yep, it sure is. Doable? You’d better believe it!
And as always, Peace.
schoolgrounds-coffee-house.myshopify.com
