‘Today' Show Features Long Beach Island’s Compassion Café

BEACH HAVEN, NJ — Compassion Café in Beach Haven was featured during a segment of the “Today” show on Thursday morning.

The nonprofit café that opened this past spring hires adolescents and adults with disabilities. Employees greet customers at the door, ring up purchases and take care of the cleaning.

The café’s feature on the “Today” show highlighted how the nonprofit not only gives people an opportunity to learn new skills, but also a chance to earn their own paycheck.

Read more: Compassion Café In LBI Provides Jobs To People With Special Needs

The entire "Today" show segment can be found online on their website.

Compassion Café partners with local businesses that donate their spaces to the nonprofit in the morning. Barry's Do Me A Flavor has been serving as Compassion Café's first host location for the 2021 season.

On Monday through Thursday from 7 to 11 a.m., the restaurant is transformed into a coffee shop where pastries, coffee and freshly baked dog treats are for sale.

Erin Sharkey and her aunt Sue Sharkey opened the café in May to give adults with disabilities more opportunities to expand their skillset once they graduate from school.

The café will be open seasonally during the spring and summer months.

Donations to the nonprofit not only cover the cost of food and other restaurant supplies, but also fund the 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 told Patch in March.

Click here to donate or to learn more about the nonprofit.

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