Whole Latte Love Cafe snags $25,000 State Farm grant

NORTH CANTON Whole Latte Love Café recently got a whole lot of, well, love in a nationwide grant contest.

The nonprofit, which works to provide employment, education and training for adults with disabilities, recently snagged a $25,000 State Farm Neighborhood Assist Grant.

The café won by being one of the top 40 vote-getters in an online contest.

"I was in shock," said Founder and CEO Beth Humbert.

The café slipped in and out of the top 40 over the duration of the contest, which ran Sept. 23-Oct. 2.

When the café started trailing, Humbert and her team worked even harder to rally votes from supporters.

"By the time the two weeks were over, I feel like people were probably tired of hearing from us," she laughed. "But in the end, it worked out."

Humbert thanked everyone who voted, especially those who don't use social media but still found a way to get online and cast votes.

"For that, we are, on behalf of the board, very very grateful," she said.

On the last day of voting, State Farm hid the leader boards to enhance the element of surprise. They publicly announced the winners last week.

"We were relieved, definitely, to hear we won," Humbert said.

The funds will be used to hire six people with disabilities for 10 hours of weekly paid training for one year.

The café, which will be located in a plaza on South Main Street, will be staffed by adults with disabilities. Employees will rotate between four customer service positions over about a two-year period. The goal is for employees to learn several transferable job and life skills, as well as discover what they enjoy doing at work, according to the organization.

The café was also recently awarded a $5,000 grant from the Aultman Foundation.

The organization had hoped to open its café this year, but the coronavirus pandemic put those plans on hold.

Opening day is still up in the air, but the organization hopes to begin construction on the café early next year.

"Honestly, it's all going to come down to the virus. How it's managed, if the cases are growing, whether there’s a vaccine," Humbert said. "There are so many variables out of our control."

Opening during the pandemic isn't worth the risk of someone getting sick, she said.

The café has used the delay to sharpen its mission, get more organized and learn from other area organizations, she said.

"We're so much stronger today than we were at the beginning of the year... A lot of positives have come out of this downtime if you will," Humbert said.

Whole Latte Love is still seeking community support. The organization has information on how to donate or volunteer on its website, wholelattelovecafe.org, and social media pages.

"We're just hoping we can change people’s perspectives in terms of people with disabilities and employment and providing access," she said. "And that’s the number one cause."

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Whole Latte Love Cafe snags $25,000State Farm grant

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