The Kindness Matters Podcast

Beyond Charity: Creating Dignity Through Meaningful Work

Mike

Send us a text

Imagine walking into a grocery store and seeing your name prominently displayed on a product lining the shelves. For most of us, that would be a remarkable moment. For the clients at St. John of God Community Services, it's a powerful affirmation of their value and contribution to society.

Luke Barnes, Director of Marketing Communications and Entrepreneurial Programs for St, John of God Community Services, takes us behind the scenes of Holy Grounds Coffee, a social enterprise creating meaningful employment for adults with special needs. What began as a solution to inconsistent contract work has blossomed into a purpose-driven business where clients participate in every step of coffee production – from roasting beans to packaging the final product.

The genius of Holy Grounds lies in its multilayered impact. Each coffee order creates multiple job opportunities, while every bag proudly displays the signatures of the clients who helped create it. "When they can walk into a store and see their name on a bag of coffee on the shelf – that's the special stuff," Barnes explains with palpable enthusiasm.

This initiative embodies the 600-year-old philosophy of their namesake saint: "Do good for yourself by doing good for others." The organization doesn't just create jobs; they've thoughtfully constructed a supply chain of kindness. They source beans exclusively from ethical, often women-owned farms, ensuring their positive impact extends globally while creating dignified opportunities locally.

Beyond coffee, St. John of God Community Services addresses community needs through innovative solutions like their mobile food pantry – a converted school bus bringing fresh produce and essential supplies directly to vulnerable populations. Rather than a typical handout model, they've designed a dignified shopping experience that preserves clients' agency and self-respect.

What resonates most throughout our conversation is the organization's deep commitment to seeing people with special needs as whole individuals with capabilities to contribute, not just needs to be met. As Barnes poignantly reminds us, "Everybody can do a little bit of good every single day... those small things really add up."

Ready to make a difference with your morning brew? Follow The Kindness Matters Podcast on social media and discover how organizations like St. John of God Community Services are creating ripples of positive change in their communities and beyond.

This podcast is a proud member of the Mayday Media Network. If you have an idea for a podcast and need some production assistance or have a podcast and are looking for a supportive network to join, check out maydaymedianetwork.com.

 

Like what you hear on the podcast? Follow our social media for more uplifting, inspirational and feel-good content and don't forget to tell your friends, family members and co-workers about the uplifting, motivating and inspiring podcast you found.

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

TikTok 

Support the show

Speaker 1:

Well, hello there and welcome. You are listening to the Kindness Matters podcast and I am your host, Mike Rathbun. What is this podcast all about? It's about kindness. It's a pushback against everything negative that we see in the news and on social media today, and it's a way to highlight people, organizations that are simply striving to make their little corner of the world a little better place. If you want to join in on the conversation, feel free, Go ahead and follow us on all of your social media feeds. We're on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok. We're even on LinkedIn under Mike Rathbun. Check us out. Or we're even on LinkedIn under Mike Rathbun. Check us out and, in the meantime, so sit back, relax, enjoy and we'll get into the Kindness Matters podcast.

Speaker 1:

Hey, hello and welcome everybody to the show. My name is Mike Rathbun. I'm your host. Thank you so much for choosing to spend 30-ish minutes of your time with us today. I am so honored and so thankful that you chose to do that. As I remind everybody, every time I come on to one of these shows, a new show. If you hear something in this podcast that you find uplifting or just motivating or inspiring, please make sure to share it with your family, your friends, your co workers. It would mean the world to me. Also, make sure to follow us on our socials. Those links will be in the show notes. I have such a cool show for you guys today. My guest today is Luke Barnes, and he is are you ready, See if I can get through the whole thing without mistakes? The Director of Marketing Communications and Entrepreneurial Programs for St John of God Community Services. I get it Indeed, yep, Welcome. Welcome, Luke. Thank you for coming on the show.

Speaker 2:

I'm happy to be here.

Speaker 1:

Honestly, I thought I was going to screw up on entrepreneurial.

Speaker 2:

It's still in my title, but I misspell it all the time.

Speaker 1:

Oh, thank God for spell check right.

Speaker 2:

Exactly.

Speaker 1:

So now you guys are located in New Jersey, right?

Speaker 2:

Yes, we're located in Westville, New Jersey. It's about like 15 minutes outside of Philadelphia.

Speaker 1:

Okay, all right. So, and you know, I never failed to be amazed at how many different charities or nonprofits there are in the world, and just it blows my mind that there are so many people out there doing so many good things, that there are so many people out there doing so many good things, but I had never heard of, I mean, some of them. You know right, goodwill or what have you. I had never heard of St John of God's Community Services. Who are those people? Who are you guys?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so our specific location in Westville, New Jersey, St John God Community Services, our specific location, handles providing services to adults with special needs. So we have a variety of services. We have day programs where clients, as we call them, which are the adults with special needs that we service they come in and just have a social atmosphere that they can engage in, they learn different skills, take care of themselves, hygiene that is our House of John program. And then we have a whole nother program with 50 or so clients where it's an employment program, so they come in and do piece rate work. So we've previously rolled t-shirts for the 76ers to shoot out of their T-shirt guns and they get paid for all the work that they do. And that is where Holy Grounds Coffee kind of comes into play. But I'm sure we'll touch on that.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, absolutely so, the 76ers huh.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yeah, we've always worked with them, rolled their T-shirts, and the clients love that job.

Speaker 1:

I would imagine yeah, I mean, how fun is that? I mean, do they get to go to games and they get to see the fruits of their labor being shot out?

Speaker 2:

We haven't been able to take them to games. A few of them do go on their spare time or with their family members. We have some of the biggest Philadelphia sports fans in there. I mean, you talk to them. One of them, every single day, talks to me about the Phillies. He comes in in Phillies gear from head to toe every single day and they truly are just like the biggest fans and they'll tell you who they're playing, when they're playing, what time they're playing. Then, when the Eagles are on, it's a whole different atmosphere.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I was going gonna say you didn't mention the eagles. I'm thinking that's a missed opportunity for the eagles there oh, yes, yes indeed well, now um, the sixers aren't in it anymore, right they're.

Speaker 2:

They're done for the season no, so that kind of uh ends the contracts early of when we're rolling these t-shirts, which is sure um so uh. But that is again why we try and find more opportunities where we can kind of work with the clients sure, absolutely.

Speaker 1:

Um, just a little shout out to my timber wolves, because I'm in minnesota. We're still in it.

Speaker 2:

You're doing a lot better than us.

Speaker 1:

I think they're doing better. This is the second year in a row we've gotten to the Western Conference finals. So I mean knock wood, but I mean we dispatched Steph Curry and the Warriors in five, so I'm not going to complain. So I think you kind of stole my thunder or not stole my thunder. You kind of went over. One of my questions was going to be what are all the programs that you have in the community? So when we talk about special needs clients and I love how you guys refer to your the people who work there or or or serve there are referred to as clients. Was that a? Was that a natural choice?

Speaker 2:

So no, actually previously before, ever since I've been here for a little over two years, they've been known as clients. Previously they were known as consumers. Customers the termage, the words used, are often dictated by the state. The state, every few years, comes up the new word and apparently they're phasing out clients. I don't know if we will phase out clients. I think that's a word that really has stuck for us and it's because we say we're privileged to serve them. You know they are here and we're serving them and we're helping to provide for them and we exist for them, similar to, if you're a business, you kind of exist for the clients that you work with. Yeah, absolutely. So that word kind of stuck for us. Consumers doesn't kind of feel right because now it just feels like we're selling something to them when in reality, like no, we're here, you know, trying to help them and provide for them.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, for sure, and I mean skipping back a little bit. Who is St John of God?

Speaker 2:

Perfect question, so I was hoping to get into it a bit more. So St John of God is a saint from Granada, spain. So he grew up in Granada, spain. He was kind of known as a lunatic in Granada a bit, because he was just crazy, going out trying to do all these things help all these people. He used to take his clothes off and give it to a homeless person. He used to sell all of his food away and give it out to people. At one point he was even locked up in a hospital because they thought he was a crazy person.

Speaker 2:

He was seen running into a burning building to go help people and so next thing, you know, he becomes the patron saint of the sick and the hospital and then gets developed the Hospitaller Order of St John of God, which is an order under the Catholic Church with brothers involved. So our executive director here is a brother of St John of God, so he follows in the footsteps of St John of God and has dedicated his life to service for this. So with recent times, with the Pope's passing, the Pope is technically at the very top of our order. We answer to the Pope. I don't directly answer to him, but the hospitality order answers to him and that's who we answer to. So some brothers of St John of God were the caretakers for the Pope, because John of God is the patron saint of the sick. So they were the caretakers for the Pope. They were there in the conclave caring for some of the cardinal members, and so then, now this hospitality order is located, we have services in over 55 countries, oh wow.

Speaker 2:

So, our small little area in Westfield, new Jersey. We do a ton of amazing things, but we have a location in Miami, camilla's house. It's a huge, huge area for the homeless. The homeless. They provide food, albuquerque homeless addiction services. We're in Toronto, we're in Hamilton, Canada, then even in Europe and South America we're a lot of hospitals. So John of God hospitals are all over the world providing true medical services, and that's actually what Worldwide John of God is known for, while even here we're just special medical services, and that's actually what Worldwide John of God is known for, while even here we're just special needs services. It's kind of a rare thing in the order it's mainly hospitals, but we try and service wherever we can.

Speaker 1:

It's your own little niche.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yeah, it started in. We're actually celebrating our 60th year, oh, good Thank you.

Speaker 1:

We're actually celebrating our 60th year.

Speaker 2:

Oh, congrats, thank you. We started in 1965 when the brothers of St John of God first came over from Ireland and they were here to start a service. Then it just kind of grew from there. They saw that the special needs population needed assistance and it's just grown and grown and grown. I've only been here for a little over two years, but we've changed so much within those two years, so over 60 years I'm sure we've changed a ton.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, I'm sure, and that's the only constant is change, right, exactly. So now I'm a lapsed Catholic, so forgive me. When we talk about orders, I know you have the Augustinians, because I think Francis was an Augustinian.

Speaker 2:

I'm not sure Francis was, but this new pope is an Augustinian.

Speaker 1:

Okay, maybe that's where I got it from.

Speaker 2:

I'm not sure.

Speaker 1:

Okay, and you've got the Jesuits and you've got. Where does that all fit in with?

Speaker 2:

and maybe you know, maybe we just need a little quick catechism here. So I wish I had the answer. I am also kind of a lapsed Catholic, but people again think, because I work here, like, oh, you know, you must be going to be an altar boy.

Speaker 2:

You must be exactly, and I and I used to be an altar boy, but not anymore. Um, but that's also kind of why it's amazing working here is that we have such a variety of people and we are called St John of God, but we're really here for the services that we do and that's what. That is the main connection everybody has here. But we are still a Catholic order and so where do those come in? The Augustinians and the John of God order are pretty similar. Augustinians and the John of God order are pretty similar. I was learning from Brother Tom, our executive director, about it and he said when he met Pope Francis that Pope Francis recognized him as a John of God brother because of the habit he was wearing. So the style of his habit is similar to the Augustinian habit in that they wear, but slightly different, and Pope Francis knew the difference and identified him as a brother of John of God.

Speaker 1:

That's crazy. That's crazy that the Pope would recognize I mean not him personally, necessarily, but the order that he was from and acknowledge that. That's so cool.

Speaker 2:

Yes, he actually. The exact wording he used for him was in Italian, I think, but the translation is oh, you are a do-good brother, because St John of God is known for a saying of do good for yourself by doing good for others, and so they became known as the do-good brothers according to the Catholic Church, so we call them the John of God brothers here, but in Europe and in Rome they refer to them as the do-good brothers. Oh, the do-good hospital, the do-good brothers hospital, which just kind of you know, that's the perfect wording of like we just try to do good.

Speaker 1:

For sure. Oh, I love that. Do good for yourself by doing good for others. Did I get that right? Yes, and that's so. That's so true, because you can really, really, really. I mean doing kind acts or doing kind things for others really helps you. Ever since I've been focused on kindness it's been a couple of years now I ever since I've been focused on kindness it's been a couple of years now I cannot tell you how much better my mental health is just by by focusing on people in organizations like St John of God that do kind things for for others and and and lead with that. So now I think we need to. You guys do so much good work, but I really am interested in how do I say it? Coffee service, no. Coffee business yes, holy Grounds Coffee. I'll let you take it away from there.

Speaker 2:

Yes, so Holy grounds coffee.

Speaker 1:

That's a great name.

Speaker 2:

Thank you. So that was started in May 2021, as I said, and I took it over as an intern in college. Actually at Rowan University, I studied marketing and supply chain logistics and my senior year I was like looking for an internship, I saw a coffee company intern. I was like, oh, that's interesting, I like coffee. Then day two they kind of told me like yeah, you're going to run the whole business. I said okay, oh, wow. So I really started to learn coffee and learn how to taste coffee and all of that.

Speaker 2:

But Holy Grounds is really created again for the clients that are in our fulfillment center where they're here to work. You know, again, when those contracts dry up and the 76ers get kicked out of the playoffs don't make the playoffs um, we need options for them to work. So we need to fill the void and you can't always rely on external companies. Kovat taught us that, as other companies closed down or didn't bring their businesses back to us. So we created, created an internal company to again fill that gap. So we have a fully electric bellwether coffee roaster on site in our kitchen, Zero emissions, so it doesn't need any gas piping. There's no smoke that comes out of it. It's a really really very smart type of coffee roaster.

Speaker 2:

And our clients go back there. They pick out the coffees that we're roasting, they throw it in the machine and they roast the coffee and then when, as the orders come in, they're part of the packaging that they grind all the coffee, weigh out the coffee package, the coffee, Um, and they're. They truly love every single step of it. Uh, and what's great is that, unlike rolling one t-shirt, an order of coffee has so many jobs. You have to roast the coffee. You have to clean the dishes that the coffee creates. We have tons of bins that get oily. You got to clean all those dishes. Packaging the coffee, grinding the coffee it's multiple steps providing jobs the whole way Boxing up the coffee for shipments, and so that provides jobs just all over the place. Like one order of one bag of coffee provides, say, five jobs, five opportunities for a client to earn a paycheck.

Speaker 1:

Sure, absolutely. That is so cool, cool and you can rotate in like your t-shirt cannon people. When they don't have work to do, they can rotate in, but do you have clients who work on that, regardless of what time of the year it is?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So the contracts for them for the piece rate work for like our large orders are pretty seasonal, but Holy Grounds runs all year long. We have a few clients that are part-time workers, so they're the ones that go back and do the coffee roasting when they're not doing other jobs. They'll help with the coffee roasting, help with the dishes, help with five-pound bags for our wholesale customers. Then every other client has the opportunity to package up the 12-ounce bags. I actually have one here. It's an ugly. Every other client has the opportunity to package up the 12 ounce bags. I actually have one here. It's an ugly one right now, but you can see on it. There it is. All their names are written all over the bags.

Speaker 2:

Oh the names of the clients.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so the bag bag with their gray signatures all over the bag. So when we say they're literally ingrained in the coffee and in the business, they truly every single bag that goes out has their names on it. Um, and so, yeah, they get to package it up and as the orders come in, we recently, for our toronto location uh, good, shepherd ministries in toronto, they had a gala where they have over 700 guests come, or over 600 guests, and they placed an order for 700 bags of coffee which we had to, you know, quickly fill out, ship up to canada. Um, then they were giving us shout outs there and you know, the clients are just so happy to see their names on the bags here here, holy grounds, coffee gets name announced. Um, and you know, it's really they. There's great reception. Everybody was like so interested in like what is this random bag of coffee? Why their names on it? It's definitely the whole point of it is to be a conversation piece yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1:

And and this, this does so much for your clients working in in that type of area, right, I mean, this brings it's not just a job, really is it?

Speaker 2:

no, it's really. Um. You know, what I love about coffee is that it's a community builder. So, you know, your local cafe is like a community hub. And coffee itself, you know, it's grown thousands of miles away in africa. It's grown in south america, it's grown on 100 different farms that are then thrown into one bag of one bag, gets thrown onto a boat, shipped out to here, dragged to us, just so we can roast it and you can enjoy one little, one little mug. Right, and that is the community. You're truly connecting the whole world with that.

Speaker 2:

And so the clients, you know, they feel that connection, they are so happy, they go home like, oh, I'm going to go tell my mom, tell my dad, tell my brothers, tell my uncle about the coffee. I hope they buy a bag, which is great. They're my best salespeople. But you know, it shows that this is giving something that they're involved with. And so my job being trying to grow the company, sell to more businesses, you know, hopefully, get onto a grocery store shelf. We're on one grocery store shelf, but if we get onto 10 grocery store shelves and the clients, can, you know, while they're going to ShopRite or any grocery store in the area, can walk in and see their name, see their bag on the shelf. You know that's the special stuff that is, that's the juice, that's the special stuff that is.

Speaker 1:

That's the juice. Wow, I, yeah, I can't imagine being one of your clients and walking into a grocery store and seeing, there on the shelf, their name on a bag of coffee. That would just that would blow them away, wouldn't it? Yeah, so where do you source the coffee from Luke?

Speaker 2:

So our coffee is sourced through our supplier, which is Bellwether Coffee. They identify farms all across the world, normally with a good variety. So some of our best ones are Rwanda, which is in Africa, colombia coffee, brazil We've had Nicaragua coffee, we've had Guatemala coffee. But what Bellwether does, and the reason we chose to work with them, was not only for their great coffee roaster, but it's because they have some of the strictest standards when it comes to coffee sourcing.

Speaker 2:

So coffee is known for child abuse, child labor laws, slave laws or slave labor, because it's all about making it cheap and farming millions of acres of land. So Bellwether identifies farms that you know have a purpose behind them, that are fair trade, certified, that are organically grown, 100% women-owned farms, and what's great about that is that that adds to our mission, that adds to our community behind the coffee, because we can't be again doing good if the coffee's sourced from a slave labor farm, right. So making sure our coffee so we love this recent Mother's Day, we picked three coffees that were all 100% women-owned farms and we got to show them off, you know, to show that you're supporting mothers across the world, you're supporting our clients and mothers across the world that in some of these farms then donate their proceeds to local schools for hygiene products for girls in school. So every step of the way we truly try and make it like there's impact that can be felt everywhere.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, for sure. So talk to me about your clients. Who are these people and how do they come to be um coffee roasters and coffee packagers with you guys?

Speaker 2:

yeah. So, uh, our clients rate range in age. They're all 21 plus, because at least in new jersey um, generally 3 to 21. They're schooling. A lot of adults with special needs go to high school or some type of school until they're 21. But then after that there's like nothing. So the issue is that after high school and when people become adults, the state and a lot of the community is like okay, yeah, they're an adult, they can handle themselves now, which is great. Some of them do handle themselves.

Speaker 2:

Some of them, some of our clients, what our former teachers. A former history teacher is one of our clients oh wow. But over the years they degrade or whatnot and then they come into our service. But for most of our clients some of them have been with us for almost their entire lives, they've been with us for decades. But 21 to 24, they have to go out into the community and fail at employment three times before they're allowed to be considered for one of our programs. Oh wow, and that's interesting. That is a state law. That is DVRS, which is division, division of vocational rehabilitation. Uh, that is one of the rules. So that's a client going to Wendy's.

Speaker 2:

I want to work at Wendy's but they're not capable of working at Wendy's. Not that they can't do a job, but it's that the modern job requires too many tasks. So a common job was a grocery cart collector. At a grocery store, you go out, you grab the carts, you bring them back, but now you have to do that plus stock the shelves, plus be a backup cashier, and it's a very dynamic role that becomes difficult to navigate when a client has a lot more going on in their brain or has physical disabilities, and that's what makes it great about some of them have been with us for years and they choose to be with us. A lot of the public thinks we're trapping them here. No, we, we need you to work for us, like. No they. They choose to be with us because some of them have had part-time jobs and have quit because, like I, don't like mcdonald's, I want to talk to people, but they only let me clean the bathrooms, which becomes difficult for a client who can talk all day.

Speaker 1:

Wow, okay, yeah, so, and I'm just, I love the work and I see so much good in the world kindness in the world come out of coffee. I recently had a conversation with a gentleman who saw a homeless encampment in Minneapolis and thought about ways that he could support that and started a coffee shop north of me here and he employs homeless youth primarily, teaches them job skills and that type of thing, and so, and as a big fan of coffee, I absolutely love this story and I love what you guys are doing. I know there's so much more that you guys do in the world. You even have a mobile food shelf that will go into food deserts.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yeah, our mobile food pantry. So that was started 2022 or so, and basically we have always had a food pantry on site where different community members will reach out asking for different food donations, and we always try and accommodate as we can. But sometimes people can't come to our location and pick up food, not coffee, which makes it difficult for them, because if you're already struggling to find food, then you can't even pick up free food makes it extra difficult. So we sourced a old school bus and interesting fun fact, school buses, after a certain amount of miles or after they're no longer in service, can no longer be the color yellow, and so our school bus is now a white school bus and it's fully wrapped with artwork about St John of God, about giving, as a fully custom artwork that I think Holy Grounds Coffee Bag is even located in the artwork, which is really cool, oh nice, and so, yeah, so we load that up with local produce from different farms that are donated, which is great, because oftentimes when you go to a food shelter they don't have fresh produce, but we get fresh produce donated. We create ready-to-go bags with good food, so rice, tuna, peanut butter, like shelf-stable foods. Then we also have hygiene products as well.

Speaker 2:

And we go out to different community partners, community centers. We've gone to a veteran's place, a nursing home and the Boys and Girls Club. They invite us out and we just have a fully nice food pantry that they can come on board and do a little shopping. Almost it's very nice inside, so it feels like it's not degrading. We're not just handing them a bag and saying, all right, get out of here. They get an experience of coming on board, getting to do some shopping, pick out the produce they want, pick out the hygiene products they need, and everybody's really had like such a wonderful experience with it. They are always so shocked with how nice it is inside and it really is a beautiful renovation that they did to the school bus and they just kind of um, you know, get to experience that dignity that you know we hope that they would get to experience every single day absolutely, and that you guys are doing such good work.

Speaker 1:

luke, I really, really, really appreciate um you taking a few minutes to come on and talk about it and, honest to gosh, god bless you for what you guys do. And, yeah, let's see if we can get some Holy Grounds coffee out in the Midwest.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, thank you. We're always happy to talk about what we do. Our purpose is to spread our mission. It's another thing why Holy Grounds is made to spread our mission of doing good, our. You know, our primary coffee blend is called our Do Good Blend. Again, just a subtle reminder of what we're trying to do and what we think everybody can do. You know, everybody can do a little bit of good every single day. You know it doesn't take much. You can just do that one tiny thing, even if, again, you know we work with people with special needs. If you see somebody with special needs, you don't have to treat them differently. They live their own life. But saying hi to them, engaging with them they're all great things to do and while I'm saying this, I'm getting chills getting to share this message, but it's really like those small things really add up in their lives and just treating them with respect and you know, the respect that you would want your son or daughter, or how you yourself wouldn't want to be treated, is exactly what is what they need.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. I can't say it any better than that. That's perfect. Thank you, luke.

Speaker 1:

Luke Barnes, with St John of God Community Services, appreciate your time and I hope you have a great week We'll talk to you soon for taking this time to listen to this episode with my guest, luke Barnes from St John of God's Community Services. I hope that you were able to take something positive from this episode, from the time that you spent here with us today and you know what? Maybe you'll be inspired, maybe you'll be motivated, maybe you'll be moved. If you experienced any of those positive feelings, please, please consider sharing this podcast with your friends and family. I'm always striving to offer you a better podcast, so feel free to give me some feedback. Let me know how you think I'm doing, email me, leave me a message on any of our social media platforms and, speaking of social media platforms, feel free to follow us on all of them, like Facebook, instagram, linkedin and TikTok. It would mean the world to us.

Speaker 1:

This podcast is part of the Mayday Media Network. If you have an idea for a podcast and need some production assistance, or if you already have a podcast and are looking for a supportive network to join, check out maydaymedianetworkcom and make sure to check out the many different shows. They have, like Afrocentric, spoiled my Movie Generation Mixtape In a Pickle Radio Show, wake Up and Dream with D'Anthony Palin, staxo, pax and the Time Pals. We'll be back again next week with a new episode and we would be honored if you would join us. You've been listening to the Kindness Matters Podcast. I'm your host, mike Rathbun. Have a fantastic week.