Beloved Coffee Shop Returns To Oak Lawn Neighborhood After 18 Month Hiatus
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) — After closing its doors last year, a beloved "more-than-just-a-coffee-shop" coffee shop has made its return to the Oak Lawn neighborhood in Dallas.
Six years ago, the United Methodist Church opened Union Coffee, a non-profit coffee shop that prides itself on coffee, community and supporting other non-profit organizations.
Originally located near Southern Methodist University on Dyer Street, Union made the decision to relocate to an "attractive corner lot in Old East Dallas" that would provide a more financially sustainable location with more space.
Although it's been over a year since they've left the old location, Union still aims to experiment with what the church could learn from embedding itself within the neighborhood, what alternative means of sustaining good work are and what might it look like to engage in ministry with young professionals who have left or never engaged in church.
Union Coffee Executive Director Mike Baughman said through their business, they try to develop leaders for the city of Dallas.
"People come to us as customers, start attending events, live out core values, leadership roles — apply skills — outside of our walls," Baughman said.
The new location has conference rooms for customers to reserve. There will also be worship and storytelling events, as well as a "cape-making workshop" in which volunteers dress as super heroes to deliver capes to kids with chronic illnesses at local hospitals.
