The Community Cafe wins Community Give Back

The Community Cafe is ready for its close up.

The nonprofit that started as Lake Wylie area residents gathering for lunch won the third annual Community Give Back contest from WTVI PBS Charlotte.

“We’re very thankful to have this opportunity,” said Cafe founder and chef Don Murfin. “Now we just have to make the most of it.”

The contest was open to area nonprofits with operating budgets of $1 million or less. Almost 50 submitted short essays and videos making their cases. The prize, $10,000 in television air time. The top three came up for a public vote ending April 19.

Joining Community Cafe as finalists were Circle de Luz, a mentoring and education program serving Latinas, and Hospitality House of Charlotte, which provides accommodations near medical facilities for families of ill or injured patients. All had videos aired on the PBS Charlotte weekly news magazine, “Carolina Impact.”

Murfin said his group was very fortunate to be selected. The Cafe offers free weekly meals at three locations, though one at Fort Mill Community Baptist Church offers its last meal April 27. The three Cafes serve about 1,300 combined meals per week.

For the Cafe, the upcoming promotion could help bring in more diners. It also could help with corporate or private partnerships, on which the Cafes rely heavily.

“Maybe a little bit of everything,” Murfin said. “I think it’ll help get the word out.”

Jeff Rivenbark, executive producer with PBS Charlotte, said the contest was close all the way from when organizations in 13 counties began submitting entries to the final moments of a week-long vote among the top three. Even selecting three was difficult.

“We had a committee internally who went in and read each of those applications one by one,” Rivenbark said. “We were looking to see which organizations really hit the mark of what we were looking for in how they help their community. The Community Cafe was one of those.”

A 30-second spot will be filmed and produced early this summer. All three organizations will have the already completed videos to use for their own promotional material. The extra air time, Rivenbark said, should help the Cafe even more.

“They’ll get more visibility, more eyeballs,” he said.

The first Cafe began at River Hills Community Church in 2010. In late 2009, two pastors there pitched the idea of a free cafe once a week to help the area through the ongoing economic recession. Murfin signed up for the task the same day.

The idea was for something different, a place as much about community members gathering to share a lunch together as it was to feed people who couldn’t otherwise afford it.

Volunteers served 45 meals the first day. Last year the Cafes served 55,000 meals. About 175 volunteers fill the roster. Plus a variety of community partners.

Businesses donate cups, bread and freezer space. There were the 800 pounds of turkey breast donated once, and the boxes of crab cakes. A Fort Mill farm donated a flat of strawberries for Friday’s Cafe at Lake Wylie Lutheran Church. A community garden asked Murfin what he could use before planting. A food drive organizer asked him what canned goods he needed, then arrived with 2,500 cans.

In-kind donations make up about 20 percent of total Cafe costs. Those partnerships, along with recognitions like the PBS Charlotte one, are vital.

“That is very rewarding,” Murfin said. “That just means that we don’t have to go out and raise cash dollars like we did when we started. It’s very, very meaningful.”

The Cafe has challenges ahead. Along with running the weekly Lake Wylie Lutheran and Lake Wylie Christian Assembly sites, organizers will look for a new home with the closing of Fort Mill Community Baptist. When the Cafe left its first home, it took almost three months to find Lake Wylie Lutheran.

“We are looking for a new home,” Murfin said. “We’ve had some very interesting preliminary conversations.”

Murfin describes the Cafe effort as “just a lot of people doing a lot.” With the latest win, he’ll be interested to see how they can do more.

“It will certainly help us get our message out to those who are in need, letting them know who we are, what we do and how we can help,” Murfin said.

This story was originally published April 21, 2016 at 3:13 PM with the headline "The Community Cafe wins Community Give Back."