NORTH FORK — Many changes are underway at Public Coffee House in downtown North Fork.
PCH was opened in March 2017 to provide a place for the youth of North Fork to gather for tutoring, mentoring, video games, homework or just hanging out.
PCH is now under new management. Cassandra Hepburn-Callis and David Callis have taken over, with Cassandra running the day-to-day operations, focusing on the cafe.
“My husband David and I are also running the youth ministry together,” says Cassandra. “We saw the need for a safe refuge in the heart of North Fork for these young people, and anyone who comes through the doors.”
This prompted the couple to take over Public Coffee House after finding out that the original youth ministers of PCH were called to Colorado. The Callis’s wanted to make certain the coffee house would stay open.
But Cassandra had a desire to expand the cafe vision at the center of the venue. So they met with the board and it was decided that she would run the cafe and help David with the youth ministry.
PCH now serves a variety of artisan coffee and espresso drinks, ice cream and shakes, specialty teas, Italian sodas, various flavors of Gatorade, grab ‘n’ go foods, and a variety of pastries and Pizza Pockets.
Public Coffee House will host a Re-Boot on Saturday, May 12, starting at 2 p.m., and a PCH Youth Art Gallery Opening on June 9. For the Gallery Opening, mountain area youth are invited to showcase their artwork. Any profits from the sale of their artwork will be split 50/50 with the Public Coffee Ministry. The kids’ work will be judged, and the winner will receive $100.
David and Cassandra are both coffee lovers, and met on the mission field in the Philippines. They fell in love and were married a year later. Jesus, coffee and people are their passions, says Cassandra.
“God called us to take over and run Public Coffee House,” says Cassandra. “We’re combining our passions and providing an avenue to serve the youth of North Fork.”
Their stated mission is to “provide alternatives to the status quo and break the cycle of addiction, depression and self destruction by providing a public home for the youth, and to provide an avenue for the local church to be present and active in the center of town, while building relationships with the community and directing them to Christ.”
C O F F E E .
Public Coffee House is a specialty coffee shop, where quality is the highest priority. We believe that coffee brings people together and creates opportunity for connecting conversations.
We proudly serve Lana Coffee Co., a direct trade coffee roaster located in Fresno, Calif.
C O N N E C T .
We are more than a youth center. More than a coffee house. We are family. A place for people to connect with each other. And Christ.
C H R I S T .
That in all things He might be preeminent. Jesus is more than the first. He is everything. It is our aim to do all for, in, and through Christ. Representing His love and compassion for our neighbors and nations.
U S I N G C O F F E E T O C O N N E C T P E O P L E T O C H R I S T
