Philly Coffee Shop Helping Those In Need With 'Get A Joe For Your Bro'
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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A new coffee shop in North Philadelphia is doing more than selling cups of joe.
A cashier is busy behind the counter at Common Grounds. "Do you want to spend one more dollar and get a Joe for your Bro?"
"Yes," the customer said.
Pay an extra dollar, "you can fill out essentially a message of hope" on a cup-shaped piece of paper to make someone's day.
"I wrote 'Love yourself,'" one woman said.
There are more messages on the wall, like "Believe you can and you're halfway there."
Every cup-shaped piece of paper buys a free drip coffee for someone in need.
"Stick it to the wall for someone to come in and take it on a day that they need to, a day they forgot their wallet," said co-owner Stephen Yaeger. "We don't really question."
Stephen opened Common Grounds Cafe by Temple's campus back in September.
This Joe for Bros program has the North Philly neighborhood buzzing.
"There's a woman that comes in every day and looks and sees if somebody had taken hers yet and buys another," Stephen said. "She always wants three up on the wall ... So she gets her coffee and adds another to the wall."
The money raised from the program is donated to charities that support mental health and drug addiction on college campuses.
One customer said, "The support is awesome. I just love the readings they put on the walls."
And for anyone in need of a free joe, all they do is grab it off the wall and hand it in.
Common Grounds has sold about 500 "Joe for your Bro cups" in the past month alone.
"So what message do you want to put out in the community with Joes For Bros?" Chandler said.
"We are a coffee shop that knows where they are," Stephen said. "We are at 16th and Cecil B Moore. We get such an array, a mix of people. We want everyone to come to a Common Ground."
