After more than 5 years of planning, fundraising, and envisioning opening the HAS HEART Coffee Shop, the historic stone building is beginning to take shape with fresh drywall and exterior patio work underway.
For the past 10+ years, we’ve only had 1-month pop-up shops and exhibits to share our mission, showcase the HERO[series] projects and VOICES projects, and generate revenue to fund the next year’s project. We’ve relied on a small team of volunteers and have kept our liabilities and expenses to a minimum.
More than 12 years after our founders, Michael and Tyler, met over a cup of coffee, we’re 12-14 weeks away from serving our own coffee (via Madcap Coffee Co.) within a historic building on the grounds of Veterans Memorial Park in downtown Grand Rapids, MI.
Our Co-Founder/Creative Director, Tyler Way, designed shadow box-inspired tops as cafe-style tables to enable HAS HEART to showcase more veterans’ stories and the creative processes of their designer partners. Since a table like that exists on the market, HAS HEART worked with a local craftsman and design studio, Mathile Design Co., and visited their workshop to check on their progress.
Our goal was to be open in time for Memorial Day, but the realities of renovating such a historic building have presented challenge after challenge of running into brick walls — literally and figuratively. Therefore, our grand opening date will likely be delayed until July 04, 2023.
While there is still plenty more work to be done, none of this would be possible without the help of several partners, organizations, foundations, and individual contributors, including:
Grand Rapids Parks and Recreation
Downtown Development Authority
Grand Rapids Community Foundation
Pfeiffer-Lincoln Foundation
Michigan Arts & Culture Council
Anonymous Donor
For more updates, be sure to follow HAS HEART on Instagram and Facebook, sign-up for our newsletter, and bookmark the Coffee Shop page for more info over the coming months.
