St. James Coffee looks to the next 10 years of community involvement

Abby Sharpe, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.
·3 min read

Jul. 23—ROCHESTER — St. James Coffee is already looking to the next 10 years as the coffee shop in northwest Rochester celebrates its first 10.

The coffee shop is a nonprofit organization and, though the name illustrates its religious connection, it isn't funded by or affiliated with any church. The shop is run completely by volunteers, except for Melissa Scaccio, the operations manager.

As is true with nonprofits, St. James relies on backing for the community to keep its doors open. That was especially true when the Covid-19 pandemic first shuttered the shop.

"You didn't stop paying bills. Rent still had to be paid, everything still had to be paid. It was looking very, very dire," Scaccio said. "And the community came around, and they floated us for a long time, even though we couldn't even be open. It was amazing."

"It's just a testament to this community," board president Katherine Letellier said, "because we wouldn't be here if we didn't have the support of everybody in this area."

What really separates St. James from other nonprofits is that it pays it forward. Instead of pocketing all profits and tips, Scaccio and the board work with organizations like Birthright of Rochester, Jeremiah Program and The Landing to fundraise. Sometimes anything that goes in the tip jar will be donated to an organization. Other times Scaccio will organize clothing drives or similar donation opportunities.

Scaccio also runs a youth ministry where she trains high school students, who are then eligible to get volunteer hours for donating their time. Ability Building Community partners with St. James so individuals can receive job experience. Refugees learning to speak English will come to St. James to see what a job in the U.S. would be like.

"My fingers are in a lot of places. This is kind of like Grand Central Station for people of faith," Scaccio said. "This place has been the crux of a lot of really awesome things. We don't publicize stuff — that's just what happens inside here. There's just really good people in here all the time."

Ten years is a significant time to run a nonprofit, but it's clear that St. James is working to do even more in the next decade. For Scaccio, she would love to expand the footprint of the coffee shop to have the ability to host more and fulfill the shop's mission of providing "space for people to be in faith and fellowship," she said.

Another expansion is to help people in other communities fundraise to open their own St. James Coffee shops.

"There were four other groups of people actively fundraising to start these in their cities," Scaccio said. "We would love to expand it so that other communities can have this place as a place for their people, instead of people coming from all over to come here. That would be in my greatest wildest dreams, with some very helpful benefactors."

"Ten years is a good mark that we have been meeting the needs of the community," Letellier said. "For the next 10 years, I want us to focus more on community outreach, promoting our mission and letting people know that we're here."