Beloved Community Cafe

Beloved Community Cafe is the dream of Good Samaritan Church and Recovery Epicenter Foundation. Both of us individually had a vision: a warm, welcoming spot where people could come together over food and build real community. Then we found each other—and the rest is history.

Now, we’re teaming up to run the cafe. Recovery Epicenter Foundation will foster a recovery community and connect people to needed services. Good Samaritan will cultivate belonging, connecting people to community and spiritual care as well as opportunities for personal growth, service, and advocacy work. The cafe will also double as Good Samaritan’s church home and host our table-based worship services on Sundays.

The partnership between us is blooming, but we see the cafe vision as bigger than just us. Already other churches and community organizations 

No, while we hope the cafe reaches those who are food and housing insecure and provides for basic needs of hunger, thirst, escape from the heat or rain, and more, we have a much bigger vision for the cafe and hope it reaches a much wider group of people. Hunger for community cuts across divisions of race, age, gender, gender identity, socio-economic status, disability, sexual orientation and more. Our hope is that a recent widow, a middle-aged transplant, a queer teenager, or a recovering addict might find just as much of what they hunger for here.

In truth we aren’t really seeking to be a charity at all. We want to be the type of community where the line between guest and host is permeable: where guests can easily become hosts and hosts become guests and all can find that for which they hunger.

We are opening Beloved Community Cafe in a storefront at 1940 Central Avenue in the Grand Central District of St. Petersburg, Florida. We are excited to be in the heart of the city and have a Central Trolley stop right out front!

Community cafes are popping up across the country using a pay what you can model which recognizes that everyone has the right to eat and belong. At Beloved Community cafe, you can pay the suggested donation, give extra to pay it forward, pay what you can, or volunteer—like washing dishes—in place of payment.

The cafe will also serve as Good Samaritan’s church home, hosting their meal-based, brunch worship on Sundays. All who seek to explore the Jesus way of love—for personal and community transformation—are welcome. Good Samaritan is a progressive, anti-racist, LGBTQ+ affirming faith community affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the United Church of Christ. Their unique way of worshipping around a meal, feeds both body and soul, fostering authentic community and connection not only with the divine, but with others.

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Learn more about meal-based worship.

Everyone is recovering from something—addiction, mental health struggles, loneliness, loss of a job, housing, a loved one, or a relationship. Studies show recovery is most successful when rooted in a supportive community.​

Half of the cafe hours will be designated recovery cafe hours. Those who are seeking recovery can join our recovery cafe after a “come and see” period. Members commit to creating a drug and alcohol free space, giving back, and attending a weekly recovery circle for support and loving accountability. Members also have access to classes that support personal growth and recovery.

Half of the cafe hours will be community cafe hours for anyone wanting to drop-in, eat a bite, enjoy a peaceful, climate-controlled place to rest, or simply find connection. We will always have cafe hosts available to sit with our guests, eat with them, play a game, or just talk.