The Good Table Cafe & Nursery News
by Melinda V. McLain
Everything is really coming along! The building is completely painted. The plumbing and electrical are going in and the front parking lot is being regraded and readied for paving and striping. Our outer construction fencing is down too - making everything look very different and open. Every day more and more kitchen equipment is coming in. We have flooring in the gathering space, offices and conference room. We have sinks going in. We have toilets in all the bathrooms - they don't have seats yet, but having the toilets is a good start!
We will be gathering for the first service of The Good Table UCC in El Sobrante on Sunday, June 8th at 10:30am.
Our Juneteenth Celebration will be from 4-7 on Thursday June 19th, with Mexican and Filipino specialties served on our great big patios. Come hang out, celebrate, eat amazing food and if you like, you can also see all the progress on a tour of the building.
We are calling all volunteers for our next workday on Saturday June 28th - this is a pivotal day for both The Good Table and Planting Justice to prepare for the last stages of opening in July. We hope to see you then!
So the big news here is that we are moving the Cafe Opening to mid to late July. We gamed out what has to happen for PG&E to get the power on and realized we couldn't get everything permitted by Juneteenth as planned.
So with increasing anticipation, we’re looking forward to enjoying an array of delectable, locally made savory and sweet foods and amazing coffee prepared on our Modbar AV espresso machine which we inherited out of a storage closet from Salesforce because they no longer needed it.
We’ll also have our drip coffee urns available on the honor system so if you just need a quick good cup, bring your own mug, pour yourself some coffee, throw a contribution in the slot and you're on your way. Read on to check out a preview of the cafe menu from our Cafe Director extraordinaire, Angelia Canes.
Whatever date we open will be the same date that Planting Justice is opening the Nursery and Farm Store, so the celebration will be doubly fantastic! Come and buy California native and organic edible plants for your garden. It's going to be an impressive collection, plus in the farm store you can find your one-stop source for creating an edible food forest in your very own yard.
Mochi donut tasting with Melinda, Carol Huang of Miss Mochi, Alex, Angelia, and Bonnie
Spiritual Touchstone - Just Mercy
by Melinda V. McLain
Pastor for The Good Table UCC and President of The Good Table Cafe
“True hospitality is marked by an open response to the dignity of each and every person. Henri Nouwen has described it as receiving the stranger on their own terms, and asserts that it can be offered only by those who ‘have found the center of their lives in their own hearts.’ ”
When the good folks of Mira Vista UCC, now The Good Table UCC first began imagining a new sort of spiritual community after selling their original campus in El Cerrito and some years of “camping” with Christ Lutheran, they identified three primary areas for service they did best: food, justice, and the arts.
For over 75 years, this congregation has been engaged in justice work, preferably with sleeves rolled up and skin in the game. Whether working with other congregations to found The Greater Richmond Interfaith Program (GRIP) or working with disaster recovery in New Orleans or ReBuild East Bay close to home, the community has always been actively engaged in economic, racial, and social justice.
For over 30 years, the congregation has been formally open and affirming of LGTBQ+ persons. The Good Table UCC is the fiscal sponsor for El Sobrante Pride, which will be held this year in La Moine (Cheese) Park on Sunday, September 28th. Happy Pride Month! We plan to celebrate all year!
Whether it is music, visual art, quilting, knitting, poetry, dance or drama, many Good Table mates find that participating in the arts and/or crafts to be a primary source of inspiration and spiritual practice for connecting with the holy. A number of years ago, Pastor Melinda led a series on spirituality and the arts and it became quite clear that beauty and creativity in conversation with the Divine is not limited to just “churchy” things either. We love it all!
The bridge that links justice and mercy for us is radical hospitality. This is the sort of welcome table where everyone has a seat and all have dignity. It is not a table for the poor set and controlled by the rich, but is instead a table where all pay-what-they-can whether it is less than the cost of the food, beverages, classes, or concerts or pay-it-forward because being financially blessed provides the opportunity to be a blessing for others.
Pay-what-you-can is not a new idea. It has also been called “sliding scale”, “passing the hat”, “suggested donation”, or a “free will offering” and nonprofits and churches all over the country (and world) have operated this way for centuries. Being able to automate this into “point-of-sale” is perhaps unique because it asks every person who comes to the cafe to honestly think about what they can pay, whether that is the suggested price or more or less.
Integrating pay-what-you-can into point-of-sale provides anonymity for both givers and recipients and eliminates the distinctions between them. This levels the field and provides dignity for all guests, and social benefits to all.
The Good Table UCC has always been willing to take risks and making the decision to found The Good Table Cafe and its pay-what-you-can coffeeshop and services could be labeled risky or brilliant. What is clear is that when you say that God loves everyone without exception, that also means that everyone deserves a seat at the table. Come on in and join us in creating such a place here.
Meet Your Tablemate - Angelia Canes
by Rhonda Purcell
Communications Manager
Angelia Canes is the Director of The Good Table Cafe, which is opening its doors to the community in July. She and I recently sat down to talk about all the great things happening there. Angelia brings a depth of experience, exuberance and a warm hug to this evolving community space. Read on for highlights from our conversation about food for the soul!
Can you tell us something about yourself so we can get acquainted?
My name is Angelia Canes, born and raised in Oakland. I am a Mom of two, 35. I've been doing coffee and beverage and food for about 15 years, opening up coffee shops. My passion has always been there. Born and raised in the community, my background also is very big, Mexican Filipino, and I bring hospitality wherever I go. So it's not just my passion, it's who I am. And I'm here to bring that to The Good Table Cafe.
What made you get involved at The Good Table?
I was always about community and knowing that I had neighbors that had my back or I could knock on someone's door and ask for a missing ingredient or just like, hey, we have a cookout tomorrow. I'll bring a plate. So seeing that The Good Table was bringing that here... Sold! What... I get to do what I love AND bring my hospitality AND bring my culture back AND I can meet more of the community!
I knew that the next step would be finally meeting everyone in person. When I did, it was almost like we were trauma bonding and throwing out like where the struggles we came from or where we are now sitting at this table and I felt community.
And I didn't know, I didn't know any of these people and I sat there in front of them and we ended our conversation interview with a hug... Not just like a hey, thank you. It was an actual Whole Hug, held you, I see you, I hear you and I knew I could belong here. And so I said Yes.
So what's going on with opening the Cafe?
Last week we finalized two of our special vendors. We have Miss Mochi who is going to be doing Japanese style savory pastries and a lot of different items like Spam Musubi, if you're familiar with that, with rice and seaweed but the way they do the rice is purple rice so it's healthier.
And we have Starter Bakery that we also finalized and they will be providing sweets in the morning, croissants, kouign-amanns, you name it. A lot of the pastries around the Bay Area tend to start with Starter.
On top of that there's a bunch of tea menus that are coming up. Just got in touch with Hella Tea and they have amazing tea and I am happy that they're Oakland based.
We're doing natural sodas made with delicious fruit add-in's from the PJ farm that will hopefully get kids into healthy sodas and provide a refreshing caffeine-free treat for everyone.
It's hard to find anywhere in El Sobrante where you can bring your kids and grandparents at the same time. We will know we've done it right when folks of all ages come in to the cafe.
We're going to do grab and go sandwiches and salads from El Cerrito Natural Grocery, PJ pops (Planting Justice) for the kids and frozen treats for everyone, yogurt parfaits, PJ’s signature “Kale not Jail” smoothie with fresh fruit, and lots of small breakfast/lunch stuff like bagels, cream cheese, breads, hummus, toasts, and in the morning: breakfast burritos!
What do you want to see happen when it's all up and running?
When those doors open, I want to see the community that I reached out to. I want to see the beautiful faces of many different people and from age ranges, from infants to... a thousand.
And I want to see everyone walking in with bright eyes and an amazing glow because they feel like at this cafe, they're at home.
What would you love to overhear somebody on your staff saying about working at The Good Table Cafe?
I would love for them to say that they had an amazing day at work.
I would love the staff to say that if they came into work not happy, or not ready to go, they were able to see that I'm embracing whatever type of day that they're having. Then they have an amazing day, and go home 10 times lighter than they did coming in.
I also want to make sure that we are not only developing our baristas, I want to make sure that they know that I am also ready to grow and learn. Teach me what you know. Let me learn the things that you do. We don't have titles that are higher and lower here. We work together as a team.
JULY is coming! Come enjoy some food please! We will have amazing food. We will have local vendors. We will have all the people ready, lined up to have a great time! It's going to be like a backyard barbecue with the whole family reunion coming.
