FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Heffner Toyota’s Morning Glory Café celebrates 10 years of helping local youth
Heffner Toyota’s Morning Glory Café celebrates 10 years of helping local youth
John Heffner (left) receives a certificate of congratulations from Kitchener Councillor Dave Schnider (middle) and Ray of Hope CEO Harry Whyte marking the 10th year of the unique partnership between Heffner Lexus-Toyota and the Ray of Hope Youth Employment Program’s Morning Glory Cafe, which is located inside the car dealership on King Street East in Kitchener.
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By Carrie DebroneKitchener Citizen
September 17, 2015
If you’ve ever been at Kitchener Heffner Lexus-Toyota’s King Street East location, perhaps getting an oil change, servicing or repair work done, chances are you have sipped coffee or snacked on a homemade cookie or tart made at the Morning Glory Café located inside that dealership.
“A lot of people know about the café but they don’t know it’s a Ray of Hope (ROH) project and they don’t realize just how many young people it has helped,” said Scott Brush, ROH Chief Development Officer.
Your snack may have even been handmade by budding pastry chef Matt Wallace,19, who has worked at the café for two months and loves baking.
Wallace said both cooking and serving at the café have
taught him to open up to people.
“The employees here at Toyota are great and very patient. They know we are just learning,” Wallace said.
“I’m a shy person, but I’m not so shy now,” he said, adding that the type of work he is doing at the café will be a welcome addition on his resume as he plans to pursue a career in the culinary arts. After graduating from the program he has decided to complete grade 12, then enroll at George Brown College or a culinary school with hopes to one day become a Red Seal chef.
Costs to establish and run the Ray of Hope Youth Employment Training Program’s Morning Glory Café, which started 10 years ago, were initially eased by a Services Canada grant used to cover wages of cafe employees. However, the government’s grant funding structure changed about two years ago and, when money was no longer available, Ray of Hope decided to change the program slightly to allow it to continue.
The program length was shortened from six to four months and employee hours were cut from 30 to 17 per week. Over the four months, participants are paid $2,000 in wages. There are currently nine young people in the program.
Since 2000, the café has provided 69 at-risk young people with the opportunity to gain life and employment skills through its Youth Employment Training Program. Many young participants are referred from Family and Children’s Services of the Waterloo Region. Serving an average of 60 to 80 people a day the young workers also get safe food handing and WHMIS training.
The café offers breakfast items, lunch sandwich specials, salads, burgers, homemade soup, muffins and daily specials, along with a wide variety of cookies and squares. Its kitchen is also used to prepare food for the expanding Morning Glory catering business.
“Heffner Lexus-Toyota was one of our first corporate sponsorships. They got cookies and muffins delivered from us before the café even got here. No other community partner has supported this unique social enterprise more than Heffner Lexus-Toyota,’’ Brush told supporters and local politicians who gathered September 10 to celebrate the success of the cafés’ first decade.
“The difference they are making in the lives of so many young people is evident. A few graduates are now even employed by Heffner Toyota,” he said.
The café is so closely integrated into the dealership’s business, that part of the Toyota customer service package includes a ticket for a free coffee while customers lounge in the café while their car is being serviced.
“The Morning Glory Café has become part of our family. We work together so well,” said John Heffner.
Alluding to the famous “Ask not what your country can do for you” John F. Kennedy speech, Heffner said those words have always resonated with him personally and that he and his company have tried to follow the model of giving back to their community whenever possible.
Harry Whyte, Ray of Hope CEO, said his organization’s goals to help families and youth who have struggles in their lives are the same as Heffner Toyota’s.
“The café is an investment that can really transform people’s lives and it creates opportunities that young people wouldn’t otherwise have,” Whyte said.
Sharlene Wallace, ROH Program Director of Employment Services, managed the Heffner Toyota Morning Glory café for more than 8 years.
“We follow up on our graduates for about a year, and our records show that about 75 per cent find employment or go back to school. Given that we’re dealing with at-risk youth, that’s a pretty impressive statistic,” she said.
When asked what it is that youth get by working at the café that they cannot get other places, Wallace doesn’t hesitate.
“It’s self-confidence. We don’t judge here. They can come here and make mistakes and discover what they are capable of. They wouldn’t get that in a regular work place. They need that four months of us investing in them to give them the confidence to go onto the next step in their life,” Wallace said.
“A lot of times it’s not their employable skills that are the problem for getting a job. It’s all the other things in life they have to deal with. Then we take off our employer hat and offer help. These kids just need caring, loving support,” Brush said.