Coffee Shop Owners Challenge Fear of Syrian Refugees

A few generous coffee drinkers have recently tacked $100 tips onto their tabs at Brewpoint Coffee in Elmhurst, but it isn’t just the skilled baristas inspiring such benevolence.

Melissa Villanueva and Angelo Sepúlveda, newlyweds and Brewpoint owners, are matching customer tips up to $3,000 through December to donate to Syrian refugees who have resettled around Chicago.

The donation is just one part of the #NotAfraidToLove campaign Villanueva launched this month in an effort to use her small business platform “as a beacon of hope.”

She and Sepúlveda are asking people to take photos with signs that say “#NotAfraidToLove” and post them on social media. They created a video that explains their goals and encourages support for refugees and the non-profit Syrian Community Network.

“We can maybe help people who have been alienated or demonized,” Villanueva said. “You can say that a hashtag won’t do anything, but what about hashtags and pictures and articles that accentuate fear? This campaign is to combat that. It’s actively doing something and fighting for something.”

The campaign was launched on social media to prevent any potential conflict for Brewpoint’s business, and though Villanueva said she’s aware her stance has affected their brand, she isn’t worried.

Villanueva found the right partner for this project in the Syrian Community Network and its founder, Suzanne Akhras Sahloul.

The network is currently helping 21 Syrian refugee families as they settle around Chicago. Sahloul said they reward hard work and help with basic necessities without creating a culture of dependency.

“We share our stories. We tell them a lot of people struggle early on, and it’s going to be OK. We match their efforts and hard work,” she said.

Sahloul said the #NotAfraidToLove campaign is shining a light on the refugee issue and the need to let go of stereotypes that mark groups of people as “the other.”

“At the end of the day, we all want to raise our children, make a living, pay our bills and get through Chicago winters,” she said. “These campaigns are great to dismiss ‘the other.’ There is no other. It’s all of us together.”

Sahloul said it might take time, but positivity on social media can help people step out of their comfort zones, find courage and promote love. She said even a simple hashtag invented by a small business can tip the scales against fear.

Villanueva said #NotAfraidToLove is a flexible ideal that can be used with any issue that might divide people. The goal is to gather a following to take a stance against fear of all kinds.

“These are the values our business has always had, and now we’re living it out,” she said. “We’re preaching diversity and loving people despite the categories we put them in.”

Photos courtesy of Melissa Villanueva and Suzanne Akhras Sahloul.