Compassion Café In LBI Provides Jobs To People With Special Needs

BEACH HAVEN, NJ — A new nonprofit on Long Beach Island will provide hands-on work experience to adolescents and adults with special needs beginning this spring.

Compassion Café partners with local businesses to set up a coffee shop setting where employees serve coffee, bagels, pastries and house-baked dog treats.

Barry’s Do Me A Flavor in Beach Haven will serve as Compassion Café's first host location for the 2021 season, donating their space to the café Monday through Thursday from 7 to 11 a.m.

Founders Erin Sharkey and her aunt Sue Sharkey are currently hiring employees before Compassion Café opens on May 10.

“We are planning to work with everybody. We understand everybody has different abilities,” Erin told Patch.

An informational meeting for interested employees and their parents will be held on Saturday, March 13 from 3 to 4 p.m. at Barry’s Do Me A Flavor.

All necessary paperwork will be available, including a behavior and skill-based questionnaire. Employees must be at least 17 years old and have reliable transportation.

Both Erin and Sue have experience working with kids who have special needs. Sue recently retired from teaching physical education in the Southern Regional School District, while Erin has worked with autistic children and adolescents for about 10 years at her job.

Her current role involves connecting adolescents with vocational skill training at restaurants and businesses in Ocean County. She found that adolescents with special needs had more opportunities to expand their skill set while they attended school, but less available to them after they graduated.

“What happens after school? That was always my thing, like what are these kids going to do? They don’t have any work skills. No one’s working on that,” Erin said.

Employees at Compassion Café will have job skill training during one afternoon every week to practice cleaning, greeting and money handling skills. Erin said the café's food will be pre-packaged, but employees will have the opportunity to bake the café's dog treats.

The nonprofit is collecting donations to pay for the supplies they need to create an authentic restaurant setting, including food, aprons, sanitation and menus. Erin said the majority of donations will fund payroll for Compassion Café’s employees.

“Any purchasing of goods, t-shirts or coffee mugs—all of that goes straight back to getting what we need in order to pay our kids to have a work opportunity. We don’t want to turn anybody away,” Erin said.

More information about donating can be found on Compassion Café’s website.

Anyone who cannot attend the informational meeting on Saturday can reach out to Erin at compassioncafelbi@gmail.com to set up an interview.

“I do this day in and day out,” said Erin. “I love when parents call me looking for advice, support or some sort of direction of where to go.”

This story is part of Patch's Headlining Hope series, which profiles local nonprofits and charitable organizations in need of volunteers and resources. If you know of a local organization or initiative that should be profiled, contact kimberee.bongard@patch.com.