Good Grace Café Opens January 31 in Sydenham Thanks to Grant

Jan 25, 2017

If you’re looking for a coffee and muffin next Tuesday morning, why not stop by the Good Graces Café. You’ll be supporting a local charity at the same time.

Thanks to a generous grant from the Community Foundation for Kingston and Area, Southern Frontenac Community Services will be piloting the Good Grace Café for the next four months. The Café will be open Tuesday mornings, in Grace Hall at 4295 Stage Coach Road in Sydenham, from 8:00 to 11:00am, starting on January 31st.

“The Good Graces Café will be selling coffee, tea, juice and muffins at a reasonable cost,” says staff member Michelle Laing, who will be overseeing the initiative, “and we will make it a comfortable place where people can feel free to sit and stay a while, read the newspaper, play a game of cards, and socialize with others.”

“The Café is a unique response to social isolation in a rural community,” says David Townsend, Executive Director of Southern Frontenac Community Services. “We know that it can be challenging for seniors in particularly to feel connected in a rural community. We felt that by providing a safe space, we would encourage seniors and others to feel connected.”

The café will be tested over the next four months, and based on the response, it will continue to operate and may even be expanded to other days of the week. Eventually, the café will be completely volunteer-run, and the organization hopes that eventually high school students may be interested in volunteering alongside adults and seniors.