Erica sat down with Daniel Frederick, the executive director of Coffee Oasis, about restoring community through compassionate youth programs and coffee businesses.
They are a non-profit organization based in Kitsap and Pierce County, dedicated to helping homeless and at-risk youth. They run the only underage youth shelters in the counties, providing a safe place for kids as young as 13 who don’t have a home or family. The coffee shop proceeds go towards supporting their mission. Click PLAY for more!
Catch hope & encouragement with Erica on weekday mornings from 5:00 AM – 10:00 AM, and Sundays from 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
TRANSCRIPTION:
Erica:
So, I just recently found out about the Coffee Oasis through my amazing friends at Peninsula Subaru, and I was wondering in your own words, would you share, Daniel, about the difference you all are making on a daily basis here in the PNW?
Daniel:
Absolutely. Yeah. We’re based mainly in Kitsap and Pierce County. And really the whole passion of the organization is to bring the hope of Christ to the pain on the streets. And we do that through a lot of different ways. We run the only underage youth shelters in Pierce County and Kitsap, and so that’s kids as young as 13 who don’t have a place to call home, or people to call family. And so they’re staying with us overnight. We see almost 200 kids that way coming through our buildings. But transformation goes all the way from youth to just making amazing coffee for people like you and I that need that to survive.
Erica:
Wow. We need the pick me up and they need a hand up in life. So Daniel, tell me, is there a story that leaps to your mind about a student whose life has been changed forever because of the work you all do?
Daniel:
The one that stuck out to me was a young woman who I met last year who at the age of 14, her and her sister who was 13, mom couldn’t care for them. Dad didn’t want ’em and found themselves on the street and the only way they could survive was to sell themselves. That’s what they found for themselves to do on the streets. And in Pierce County, a police officer was called to pick them up. And like I said, the only place to take a youth that age in Pierce County, all of Pierce County is the Coffee Oasis. So brought them to our door and they were hesitant to come because they had to stay in separate beds. And so, our staff who just are so compassionate, pushed two beds together so they could feel safe, woke up in the morning and in her words, the smell of pancakes and an invitation to go to church if she wanted.
And her story, she told, that she told this to an audience of people, 400 people, this very vulnerable story, and everything that came before it all hinged on this statement. She said, “But God.” And what her life looked like afterwards is really her dignity and her identity getting stolen, but God, and then her seeing herself now as a cherished child of God. And that doesn’t mean life is easy moving forward, there’s a lot to heal from, but seeing everything hinge on just seeing Jesus in the lives of other people who are willing to give her a place to stay, willing to invite her in and give her a warm meal. So, her story just is one of hundreds, but that one always makes me tear up.
Erica:
Same. You all are clearly doing the Lord’s work there at Coffee Oasis. Daniel, you talked about the compassion of the people who serve with you. Would you talk about your volunteers, why they do what they do?
Daniel:
Yeah, we get the opportunity to hire staff or bring on volunteers. We talk about compassion being literally suffering with someone. So, it’s not you sitting on the other side of a table serving a meal, or something like that. It’s literally the ability to see someone and suffering and join them, so you can be a part of that healing process. And our volunteers are just amazing. They’re people who are stepping into hard situations, taking on someone’s pain themselves like Jesus did for us. And yeah, we couldn’t do without volunteers and staff who literally lay down their lives for other people
Erica:
And make pancakes!
Daniel:
And make pancakes!
Erica:
And offer that smell of home and safety. That just resonated with me so deeply when you were sharing that story.
Daniel:
Yeah, and that’s why we often say these kids have no place to call home, no people to call family, because for me, that’s my safe place. That’s where my mind goes to when I need to rest, is these people in this place. And so, we get to help shape for the first time that may be in the life of a youth. Our mission statement is restoring community and we call it “re-story-ing”, right? It’s like this story that didn’t have hot pancakes in it that now does, or the story that didn’t have someone who was just going to sit and receive the hard things, good things from today, and now they do. So yeah, just getting to share in the re-storying of lives, which is what Jesus does with us.
Erica:
Unbelievable. I am so proud to share this story with our listeners, and one of my favorite things about the work you all do is that we can be a part of it just by buying a cup of coffee. So, would you describe what that experience is like?
Daniel:
Yeah, you come in and buy a cup of coffee and you wouldn’t know that if you walked in our Bremerton shop, or our Tacoma location, you could just walk in off the street and think, man, this is just a great cappuccino, not knowing that literally above you, the second floor kids are staying overnight. They’re getting cared for. So, it is just a beautiful arm of the nonprofit that allows us to help generate some funds, but also job training. So, when our kids walk down from the shelter and put on an apron, if they’re doing job training with us, it’s that movement from no opportunity to opportunity, and maybe no work experience or no one giving ’em a chance, to getting the ability handle cash to cash register, or learn to make a latte. So yeah, I really invite anybody to come and experience it just through buying a cup of coffee.
Erica:
I’m blown away. Jesus can use coffee, Daniel!
Daniel:
Every day.
Erica:
That’s so awesome. Okay, so I want to ask you about Peninsula Subaru. While I have you, they’ve recently made a donation. What does it mean to you, Daniel, as well as others who donate to you when you receive coats and shoes and socks? What does that do for your hearts there?
Daniel:
Man, so many things. So my family started Coffee Oasis in ’97, ’96. They started ministry called Hope and Christ Ministries, which turned into Coffee Oasis. And for 12 years, it was like lonely years. Didn’t know, didn’t have a lot of support in the community. And then all of a sudden people like Peninsula Subaru and a plethora of churches started noticing, and it really turned the work we could do with maybe a dozen kids into the work we could do, the life we could share with thousands of kids each year. And so, it just multiplies the effort, literally. I do not exaggerate to say we could not do it if people didn’t step up in that way.
Erica:
Oh, when a child receives a coat or a pair of socks, describe their reaction.
Daniel:
Perfect example. We do something called Family Christmas Project every year, and just this last week one of our kids came in a little late to pick up the gift we bought for him. It was a pair of work pants. And when they left, what they said was, “I just can’t believe this is new.” They’d expected to come and get something used. It was like the first time in their life they’d had something new, and they didn’t even know they were worth it. And so, when we can give them something that isn’t even just lightly used, but brand new and they realize it, something switches in their mind from going, “I get everything someone else has already handled to this is mine for the first time,” and it genuinely transforms the heart.
Erica:
Okay. Wow. I am blown away. Daniel Frederick from Coffee Oasis, thank you to you and your family for catching the SPIRIT on Kitsap. I mean, I am just blown away by your story and I can’t wait to share it with our listening family.
Daniel:
Hey, thank you so much.
Erica:
God bless you my friend.
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