It was a terrible way to wake up on a Sunday morning—first, to the smell of smoke coming from downtown, then getting a text message that All About Art was on fire. I jumped out of bed, threw on clothes, and drove the four blocks while praying aloud. Mostly, it was just, “Please, God—let everyone be okay.”

When I arrived at 7:15 am, the Enterprise Fire Department had already been fighting the blaze for an hour, and I had hopes they could keep it from breaking through our ceiling. Sadly, these wonderful historical buildings are often like matchsticks waiting to combust—even with all fire code precautions in place. Our corner didn’t stand a chance.

Fellow business owners gathered around to hug and hold our three families as we watched years of dreams go up in smoke. Hundreds of friends, neighbors, and strangers turned out to see what could be done to help. The outpouring of love and support from all over Enterprise (and the Wiregrass) has been simply incredible. I got hundreds of text messages and emails, plus a couple dozen phone calls from folks wanting to know how they could help all of us. Entire churches prayed for us the morning of the fire. Pastors came out to pray with us right in the middle of Main Street. We are beyond thankful for this amazing community we live in and love so much.

In the four months since, we have navigated the "joys" of insurance paperwork, payroll audits, and skyrocketing inflation as we look ahead to a comeback. We learned that insurance would not cover the nearly $10,000 we put into building out our counters, plumbing, filtration, and electrical systems, since we did not own our space but rented it. We also realized it would not cover many of the items we had thought it would, including equipment leases for our point-of-sale system and payment processing, and those companies required payment in full to terminate their agreements. It has been a big, painful learning curve, but we've managed to come through it with only a few scars--and the Downtown fund-raiser helped us tremendously to pay our employees during the time we were closed and bridge us while we operated on a reduced scale out of a loaned coffee truck during the holidays. Honestly, we would have folded without that heartfelt support.

While our landlord presses on through the floor plan and permit process to rebuild this year, we have been prepping for our comeback with purchases of furnishings and down payments on equipment. Our dream is to expand on our original footprint and add used books so we can become the bookshop cafe we always hoped to be. We want to build on that European-style vibe and expand our menu to include breakfast and brunch. To do so, we've got to raise funds to (once again) build out plumbing/filtration, and electrical, and purchase a greater array of equipment. We did it before with the help of friends, family, and kind strangers who donated to our Kickstarter campaign. This made Coffee Corner a collaborative effort from the beginning--not a corporate cookie-cutter product. And we want to do that again. We are chomping at the bit to serve our customers and welcome even more folks into our beautiful downtown.

Any amount you can give will be helpful and appreciated. AGIVEME does not require us to meet a goal to release the funds, so this isn't a make-or-break fundraiser. Please feel free to share this with others who want to see our corner of Downtown Enterprise come back stronger and better than ever. You are the reason we do what we do, and we are so thankful for every one of you. You are the bricks that will rebuild the dream, one step at a time.

“...to provide for those who mourn in Zion— to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.” —

https://www.coffeecorner.cafe/blog/yt2b5qbv0lrmmnvxod1xxgfm785qkd