Every Saturday, a man serves cups of fresh coffee to residents of Calgary’s Drop-In and Rehab Centre to honour the memory of his father, who was a former resident of the centre.
Jesse Singleton told CTV Calgary that the initiative began in 2015, shortly after his father, Jim, died in a construction accident.
Jim was often homeless and suffered from serious drug addiction, Singleton said, but managed to turn his life around and reconnect with his family after meeting with staff from the drop-in centre.
The initiative, which has grown considerably since 2015, had humble origins. In the beginning, Singleton would buy a box of coffee from a local Starbucks and bring it over to the residents.
“We just started having a coffee with someone,” Singleton said. “We’d drink half the box, but we’d have one conversation and just talk to them about the hope that we believe in and the hope that changed my dad’s life.”
Singleton used his father’s $15,000 life insurance policy to buy a coffee roaster and he started brewing Kingdom Coffee, a custom blend that he now serves the homeless.
He also sells the coffee by the bag, with a portion of the proceeds going to a local charity and the rest devoted to funding an expansion of his efforts.
“We were so blown away by my dad and how his life changed that me and my wife Steph said that if he can change his life, anyone can,” Singleton said.
With a report from CTV Calgary’s Kevin Green
