Sospeso (Suspended Coffee) Project Expands To Include Suspended Bread!
Ashley Mengoni with bread. Image by Rex Hohlbein
Our Wallingford Café Manager, Ashley Mengoni, had an idea. An idea that would help people in our community by showing them support when they need it most. We’ve spread the word to homeless organizations such as Mary’s Place and Homeless In Seattle about The Essential Baking Sospeso (Suspended Coffee) Project and it’s been such a huge success that we’ve decided to expanded “Sospeso” to include bread! Customers can request to purchase an extra cup of coffee or bread with their order and receive one wooden token for coffee and two wooden tokens for bread. They then place the tokens in the jar on the café counter so a person in need is able to inconspicuously redeem them for a free cup of coffee and a loaf of bread at a later time.
Homeless In Seattle Photography on display at The Essential Baking Wallingford Café. Image by Rex Hohlbein
Rex Hohlbein of Homeless In Seattle, raises awareness by giving homelessness a face through his beautiful pictures. They are now on display at The Essential Baking Company’s Wallingford Café. Come visit Ashley and her Team at The Essential Baking Company’s Wallingford Café and ask for a bread “sospeso”.
Update: We have expanded this project to all of The Essential Baking Company Cafes in Wallingford, Madison, Georgetown and Bellevue.
I don’t know why my last comment is not here…
It basically stated that if Essential Baking really wanted to help the homeless then they would bring back the white dumpsters to Fremont. They were always filled with totally edible bread and it was one of the best spots in Seattle to get food to people who couldn’t afford to go in the store and shell out 5 bucks for a loaf of bread.
Bring back the dumpsters…
We have programs in place to prevent waste, where bread is given to homeless shelters and to farms to provide feed for animals. Food in dumpsters is not sanitary, therefore not fit for human consumption. As a company we regularly participate and give to homeless organizations. As a customer, you can participate in The Essential Baking Company Sospeso (Suspended Coffee and Bread) Project. Purchasing one coin will provide a cup of coffee and two a loaf of bread.
The only thing that was placed in those dumpsters was bread. I assume that it was to be composted. Most of the bread in the dumpsters were still in their paper bags. I have pulled plenty of bread out of those dumpsters for myself and for friends. I have never even seen one little spot of mold or gotten sick from eating it.
I appreciate the efforts that Essential Baking makes to donating bread to homeless shelters and trying to minimizing waste. Those dumpsters were a good resource for the locals who aren’t homeless but aren’t too far from being homeless. There are a lot of people in the area who are living hand to mouth and used to really benefit from those dumpsters. Now the only bread that a lot of those people get is Franz’ because that is what they can afford. And we all know that isn’t real bread…
Anyone in need can now come up to the counter instead of a dumpster at any of our cafes. They simply ask for a Sospeso (Suspended Coffee or Suspended Bread), take one token from the jar on the counter for a coffee (or hot coco) and two tokens (for a loaf of bread).
Seems that Essential is willing to give bread to needy individuals as long as it’s paid for by someone..
There was nothing wrong with the bread dumpsters. Bring em back….
I have fed a lot of people with good bread out of them. The dumpsters were not filled with trash, they were filled with good bread.
Has Essential Baking seen an increase in profits since the dumpsters have been removed? I doubt it. There is no good reason to not have the bread dumpster there…
What happened to the white dumpsters? Bring those back if you really want to help people in need.
We have programs in place to prevent waste, where bread is given to homeless shelters and to farms to provide feed for animals. Food in dumpsters is not sanitary, therefore not fit for human consumption. As a company we regularly participate and give to homeless organizations. As a customer, you can participate in The Essential Baking Company Sospeso (Suspended Coffee and Bread) Project. Purchasing one coin will provide a cup of coffee and two a loaf of bread.
I love the breakfast sandwich program that Save On has
http://saveonmeats.ca/Sandwich%20Token%20Program/
That’s a great idea!