Compassion Cafe Finds A Home, Inspires Beach Haven And Beyond

BEACH HAVEN, NJ — Like many who run seasonal businesses along the Jersey Shore, Erin Sharkey realized that Compassion Café’s run for the year would one day come to a close. What she didn’t expect, however, is how much of a positive impact the pop-up coffee shop that employs and empowers teens and adults living with special needs would leave on its Long Beach Island community —and beyond — in such short order.

Compassion Café closed for the year earlier this month, but not before a mission started by Sharkey and her aunt, Sue Sharkey, found a home in Beach Haven. Over the 4½ months it was open — four days a week and four hours a day — the business gained a popular following serving up coffee, prepackaged bagels and baked goods, and other house specialties such as house-made pet treats.

The café was first featured by MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle in July, who then also featured the not-for-profit on NBC’s "Today Show," a month later. But even before the cameras rolled and gave viewers a window into how Compassion Café was making a difference in its 50 employees ages 17 to 42, Sharkey watched as something magical unfolded before her eyes.

“We knew we were going to touch our little part of the world,” Sharkey told Patch on Thursday. “We knew Beach Haven would totally welcome us in … but literally the fact that the entire country joined forces with us and supported us and prayed for us and loved us and donated … it was humbling and an honor both to be part of something that really touched so many lives.”

As Compassion Café’s scope grew, the more people from beyond the immediate area started to pour through the doors. The coffee shop opened in May and found a home in Barry’s Do Me A Flavor, which donated space to the not-for-profit. Day by day, Sharkey watched as visitors drove from long distances to experience the shop firsthand and to see how employees built confidence as they learned important life skills.

The employees were able to work eight hours per week and earned New Jersey’s minimum wage of $12. In the "Today Show" segment, which aired in August, employees said they found joy in bringing happiness to the café’s customer base while also learning life and work skills, and earning money for themselves. Sharkey, who has a background in behavioral therapy, said she watched as her crew of workers became a family and enjoyed social outings outside of work.

In both environments, Sharkey said a special bond was built.

“We were able to see these relationships form and these friendships be nurtured,” Sharkey said. “That was probably my and my aunt’s favorite part.”

Since closing down for the season, Sharkey said planning has already started for 2022. The pop-up coffee shop will move to The Sea Shell Resort & Beach Club in Beach Haven, which hosts up to 200 guests per night. Training will begin for new employees in March, Sharkey said, before she and her aunt once again open for their second season. While details are still being ironed out, but Sharkey anticipates the café operating the same hours as its inaugural season.

The newness of not operating the café hasn’t yet sunk in for Sharkey, who said that employees will still have two meetups a month to be able to maintain the bonds that were built during their time at the café. While those relationships will continue to grow, going from seeing her extended family on a daily basis to now only occasionally isn't easy.

“It’s really kind of sad,” Sharkey said. “I miss everybody, I miss the excitement and it just became so much of our daily lives.”

That feeling leaves Sharkey motivated to build on the establishment's following when it reopens next spring. The hope, she said, is that the popular coffee shop can continue to serve its community in meaningful ways while inspiring others to get involved and providing opportunities for those who live with special needs but who crave a little sense of normalcy in their lives.

Sharkey said in the "Today Show" segment that she knows the business model doesn’t make sense. Erin and Sue, a retired physical education teacher with the Southern Regional School District, opened Compassion Café not with a bent toward turning a profit but instead benefiting their employees. Still, Erin Sharkey told Patch that if they were in a different part of the country that didn’t rely so heavily on seasonal business, the café could easily be a full-time operation.

What she learned in Season 1 of the café’s existence is that there is a need for these types of businesses around the country. The timing couldn’t have been better for the café’s first season, Sharkey said. Given all the country has been through over the past 18 months between dealing with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, political divisiveness and other discord, Sharkey says that Compassion Café came along just when both its community and the nation needed something different.

“I think in the current atmosphere we’re living in, I think everybody needed something good to support and something good to follow and I think Compassion Café offered that,” Sharkey told Patch on Thursday. “It was something good going on the midst of such much chaos. I think it gave a lot of families hope and it gave families inspiration.”

She added: “For families and even individuals with special needs, it was like, hey, there is hope, there is something we do, something we can create, and I think that was really special."