GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A West Michigan non-profit organization is getting ready to open a coffee shop in Veterans Memorial Park in Downtown Grand Rapids.
The renovation will transformation a nearly 100-year-old building.
The Grand Rapids Downtown Development Authority recently approved $166,000 in funding for the nearly $1 million project, pushing the Has Heart coffee shop closer to the finish line.
"Has Heart was created as an opportunity to acknowledge veterans," Co-Founder and Executive Director Michael Hyacinthe says.
"Coffee just happened to be the catalyst for conversations and all of the projects that we've done, ever since 2011," Co-Founder and Creative Director Tyler Way says. "We do annual projects, as Michael said, around Art Prize, and then we expanded that to a 50-state tour. And now we're bringing all of that home into the Has Heart coffee shop at Veterans Memorial Park in downtown Grand Rapids."
Over the last decade, Way and Hyacinthe have shared veterans' stories through art.
"That was such a powerful process way back in 2011, that we knew we needed to continue partnering veterans with graphic designers to help them share their story through art design and fashion," Way says.
With the funding secured from both the city and other donors for the $896,000 project, they say this is a space to continue their work, and it's to recognize both the veterans who couldn't make it home and those who have.
"We want to provide them this platform to come and share their stories. And those who have not served, we want to invite them to come in, have a cup of coffee with a veteran that has served so that we all can truly play a role in welcoming our veterans back home," Hyacinthe says.
With a soft opening planned for Memorial Day Weekend, they'll soon work on hiring staff.
"We'll probably start recruiting for veterans and or spouses of veterans and their dependents to come and apply to be a part of the Has Heart organization, beginning in February," Hyacinthe says.
The non-profit organization is currently taking donations to stock their shop with coffee-related equipment.
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