Kid-owned café in Newtown spreads message of kindness and environmental stewardship

A cup of coffee at one local coffee shop in Bonavista Bay is not just about brightening a customer's day, it's also about helping change a community.

The Karma Kafé and Find Junque, nestled along the ocean in an old church hall in Newtown, N.L., is filled with mismatched kitchen tables, overstuffed bookshelves, and antiques in every nook and cranny. Most thing are donated, from the dishes to the food.

But there are no plastic forks or spoons to be found, due to the café's determination to reduce waste, says Flo Cross, a retired schoolteacher who opened the café in 2017. The café composts everything it can, she says.

"Last year for six weeks we had one bag of garbage. One. Six weeks in the café, everything else was either reused or composted napkins, placemats, forks, knives, spoons, cups all donated."

There was no business plan for the café; it just sprouted out of the desire to spread good energy and give back.

Cross grew up in the area, and moved back with her partner Irene Woodworth in 2014, after teaching for 29 years.

She had dreams of writing a book in her newfound spare time. But a suggestion from her brother to write something for the new youth theatre group, Building Bridges, created something bigger. She wrote a play called My Mind's a Time.

"I got 13 kids involved, made a little money and wanted to give it to them. They wouldn't take it. Thirteen kids from Grade 4 to Grade 12 left their money on the table. I didn't want it, so this was born."

With the seed money, the donation of an old building and the generosity of people in town, it didn't take long before the café, owned by the theatre group, came to life in the summer two years ago. It reopens every year using the group's profits to give back to the environment.

The café also launched the Kindness Campaign to share a message of love, friendship and anti-bullying. A local hockey team jumped on board, wearing pink jerseys at their final home game last of winter.

The karma keeps flowing through the textile exchange, which was spawned from the piles of clothing donations to the café .

Another big donation was an old furniture store, to keep all the donations they can't at the cafe. By the fall, work will begin on renovating that building into a year-round textile and furniture exchange with a mini-café.

Woodworth says all the community support is overwhelming.

"We have a lot of people that volunteer and there they'll always say, 'Now, if you need anything, let me know.' It's incredible!"

And it's the kids who are taking the lead, like Jyda Goodyear, 10, one of the students who own a share of the café.

She's a part of the theatre group and one of the first to volunteer for cleanups with her friends. She even wants to volunteer at the café waiting tables.

"Since I got a part of this, I've been loving the environment even more and loving kindness more than other things. That's like my No. 1 thing that I always love doing."

Jyda said she's seen the change in her friends and in her hometown.

"Before this got started, there was a lot of garbage," she said. "The ditches were full and the roads were full and now it's getting all cleaned up and there is not much left."

Her mom, Brenda Lee Goodyear, says the spark from Cross and Woodworth can be seen everywhere she goes.

"Of course who doesn't want to be better, you know?" she said. "It's definitely been a huge impact, they have made a huge impact on my family's life. But I found a big difference in the community in general. People just want to be caring. And that's really all that I wanted my children to learn."

If you ask Cross how this all happened, she won't take the credit; she says it's the kids who help inspired her to keep giving.

"One person called me a conduit. That's all I am, is a little place that things move through. The goodness was here long before I came. It just became a means for everyone to express what they wanted to do anyway."

The Karma Kafé will be open until late October, with the second location coming next year.

And there's no telling how far the karma will go.

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