Cheers ring out as Jeffrey Pienela walks into The Coffee Factory and says hello to the MOKA Community Supports groups he works with twice a week.
The groups gather at the downtown Muskegon coffee shop to share a snack, conversation, and community. Spearheaded by Jeffrey last fall, the meetups have been a hit with people in the groups, employees, and customers.
As a Specialized Mentor of Community Supports, Jeffrey was looking for new collaborations and places to bring the groups. MOKA has a snack day, so he talked to The Coffee Factory owner Sarah Sass about hosting them on occasion.
“It took off like fire,” Jeffrey says. “They build relationships with people, like with Sarah.”
Nicholas and Keith like mixing the ingredients. Nicholas brings apples and eggs from his family’s farm to the owner. “He is so adorable,” Sarah says. “He comes in and he calls me sweetheart. And I think that’s just like the cutest thing.”
Lisa enjoys working with her group and being treated with dignity and respect. “I like the people at MOKA,” Lisa says. “I enjoyed the Valentine’s Day cookies. They were really good.”
They all have fun eating the sweet treats: apple crisp, cookies, and pumpkin pie.
Sarah welcomed the idea, saying she has a bunch of new friends and customers enjoy talking with them.
“For us, it was cool because my employees fell in love with everyone too,” Sarah says. “They are a very inclusive group already, but it just gave them one more group to love.”
Sarah makes it interactive by having them measure out and mix the ingredients. They work together and use their creativity and imagination. Depending on the dessert, the MOKA groups come in to help prepare the ingredients and return after Sarah bakes it.
“One of the things I noticed is how much they genuinely like each other, and they very much support each other and work together,” Sarah says. “They all like to be a part of a team.”
The treats change depending on the season. They celebrate birthdays and major holidays with cookie decorating and other festivities. Energy bites, peanut butter balls, apple crisp, and fruit wraps are other goodies they have made.
“She spoils them too,” Jeffrey says of Sarah. “She’s got a good heart.”
Sometimes they do craft activities or color the coffee sleeves. Other days, they sit on the couch or talk to customers and share stories and laughs.
“I feel like each time you get to know a little bit more about everybody that’s coming in,” Sarah says. “And they’ve made us pictures, so we have pictures in the back hanging up on our refrigerator.”
Jeffrey likes the visibility it brings to the people served by MOKA, as well as fostering a sense of community.
“I think it breaks down barriers by getting them out in the community,” Jeffrey says. “They make a family here, and friends, and build up their little circle that they have.”
Community Supports fosters MOKA’s mission of inclusivity by getting groups out into the community “to create a world bigger than just ourselves, our household, or our group,” says Jamie Romanosky, a Community Supports Supervisor.
“Jeffrey has done a fabulous job of fostering this bigger relationship to expand their social circle and their world overall,” Jamie says.
Jamie adds: “It’s nice having someone else help guide in the snack creation, and then they get to see other community members, so people who frequent here are seeing MOKA’s groups here, which I think helps with some of the stigma that goes with having disabilities.”
The Coffee Factory is proud to be a local business that welcomes everyone and supports diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.
“Everybody here is a person in my community, and it’s our job to support the community,” Sarah says. “And the best part for me was that I ended up with a whole bunch of new best friends.”
Story by Marla Miller. Photos by Lara Parent.