April 17, 2025 • 31 mins
"What does it mean to truly feel called to serve?" Rob Bergfalk, founder of Compassion Church and Compassion Coffee in Anoka, Minnesota, answers this question through powerful action rather than mere words.
When news reports in 2018 showed hundreds of people living in tent cities along Hiawatha Avenue in Minneapolis, something stirred deeply within Rob. As a youth pastor with 12 years of restaurant industry experience, he found himself uniquely positioned to respond. The result? A visionary model combining faith community and social enterprise to address homelessness through dignity-giving employment and skills training.
Rob takes us through his three-year journey from initial calling to opening Compassion Church in 2021 near Stepping Stone Emergency Housing, a 66-bed homeless shelter. Understanding that sustainable impact requires sustainable funding, Rob and his wife Kelsey developed an innovative plan: create a coffee shop that would both employ people experiencing homelessness and generate revenue for their mission.
The path wasn't immediate. They started small with a coffee cart at local events like Anoka's famous Halloween celebrations before securing their permanent location in late 2023. Today, Compassion Coffee not only serves premium beverages from award-winning Silverbird Roasting but provides comprehensive training in barista skills, customer service, budgeting, conflict resolution, and other essential life skills.
What makes their approach particularly effective is the collaborative community network they've built with organizations like Hope for Youth, Family Promise, and Stepping Stone. Together, they create pathways of support for people of all ages experiencing housing insecurity.
"I learned that when I thought I was coming to be the hero, that's not the case," Rob shares. "If you enter with humility, you actually grow." This perspective flips the traditional charity model on its head, revealing how serving others transforms both the helper and the helped.
Looking for inspiration about using business as a force for good? Want to discover how your skills might address community needs? This episode offers practical insights on creating sustainable models for social change through relationship and dignity.
#homeless #hope #coffee
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hello there and welcome.
You are listening to theKindness Matters podcast and I
am your host, mike Rathbun.
What is this podcast all about?
It's about kindness.
It's a pushback againsteverything negative that we see
in the news and on social mediatoday, and it's a way to
(00:20):
highlight people, organizationsthat are simply striving to make
their little corner of theworld a little better place.
If you want to join in on theconversation, feel free, Go
ahead and follow us on all ofyour social media feeds.
We're on Facebook, instagram,tiktok.
We're even on LinkedIn underMike Rathbun Check us out.
(00:44):
Uh, we're even on linkedinunder mike rathbun.
Check us out.
And, in the meantime, so sitback, relax, enjoy and we'll get
into the kindness matterspodcast.
Hey, welcome everybody to theshow.
Thank you so much for fortaking 30-ish minutes of your
time and spending it with us,with me and my guests today, as
(01:10):
I always do, I will remind youthat if there's something that
you hear in this podcast thatinspires you, that moves you,
that motivates you, please makesure to share this podcast with
your friends and family, yourwork colleagues I've started
(01:30):
saying strangers on the street.
That may or may not becomfortable for you, but you
know.
If the spirit moves you right,feel free to share it.
I would greatly appreciate itand hopefully your friends and
family that you share it withwill appreciate it as well.
So have you ever felt called todo something?
(01:57):
And I always kind of scoffed atthis when I was younger, this
notion of saying, you know, Ireally feel like this is
something I need to be doing.
But as I get older, I kind offeel that it's actually a thing,
(02:17):
and maybe this podcast, maybethat's my thing, maybe this
podcast, maybe that's my thing.
Well, I'll tell you what.
My guest today is Rob BergfolkI really have to enunciate there
, I apologize Rob who is thefounder of Compassion Church and
(02:44):
Compassion Coffee in Anoka,minnesota, and I find his story
amazing and uplifting, and Ithink you will too, and you were
felt called to something rightRob.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yeah, that's right, compassion, church and
compassion coffee is a result ofme sensing a call.
For me, obviously, as a pastor,this call is from God and but I
recognize, you know, peopleeven that don't believe in God.
Right, like there's, I think,people, I think we can all
(03:24):
relate to that there's, there'sa greater purpose in life that
we can, that we can find, and so, for me, my relationship with
god, um, that, yeah, that'sresulted in a very specific
calling and a vision that he is,that he has given me, that that
which is the result of that iscompassion, church and Coffee.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah, for sure.
You know what?
I never stopped to think thatmaybe an agnostic or an atheist
might be called to do something.
That's okay Interesting.
I'm going to have to thinkabout that a little bit more.
But let's talk about youbecause you're why we're here
(04:04):
about that a little bit more.
But let's talk about youbecause you're why we're here.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
So this started this started for you kind of in 2018.
Is that right?
Yeah, I mean so my story.
There's a lot of history frombefore that that has kind of
resulted, but specifically forabout compassion, specifically
for about compassion.
Uh, yeah, in 2018, um, therewere the homeless camps
(04:29):
happening off of high wathaavenue, um, and news you know
the different news outlets werereporting on this all throughout
that summer and fall, and youknow there were hundreds of
tents, uh, hundreds of peopleliving what they were calling
tent cities, and so they hadpropane tanks like kitchen, like
you know, it looked like a cityof just with a bunch of tents.
And, yeah, and that broke myheart, and I was reading a book
(04:53):
at the same time and about whatit looks like to be the church,
and I sensed this call from Godthat we were supposed to start a
church to care for the homelesspopulation, and I didn't really
know exactly what that meant,but that was kind of the start
of like, okay, I wonder whatthat looks like.
(05:16):
I wonder if we should do this,if we can do this, and that
started a journey of just kindof listening and trying to be
obedient to what that lookedlike.
So, but, yeah, that startedback in 2018.
And we didn't start the churchtill the summer of 2021.
And so there was really athree-year process of really
(05:37):
discerning should we do this andis this what we're supposed to
do?
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Yeah, well, and that's not something you rush
into right.
Yeah, absolutely, and we'vetalked about the homeless before
.
I've talked with SteveGriffiths you know, steve, I'm
sure and Darlene SparksWashington Dr Darlene Sparks
Washington, I had her onrecently and a theme that kind
(06:08):
of runs through, that is how thehomeless can be right out in
the open but invisible.
But you saw them, yeah, and youfelt, dare I say, compassion.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Yeah, yeah, I, and I saw him through, um.
I think it's important to notetoo, like I didn't, I didn't, I
didn't see anybody because I wasdriving down, like what you
know, we live in Champlin, umand so we stopped because there
was awareness of people weretalking about it, right, people
like the news stations weretalking about it.
(06:44):
Right, people like the newsstations were talking about it.
And so, yeah, there's thisawareness and that's part of
what we're hoping to do withCompassion.
Is helping like a big piece, ishelping care for people in need
, is helping people be awarethat there are actually people
in need.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Yeah, so yeah, for sure, and they were talking
about it again this winter.
Right, because there have beenhow many homeless encampments,
and I don't know for whateverreason.
This seems to happen most inMinneapolis and St Paul.
Yeah, but there were fires inthese camps because of the
(07:21):
propane tanks that they wereusing, and you brought that up
just a second ago.
So I mean, they were back inthe news and yeah, I don't.
So that had nothing to do withanything, I think.
But just going to your pointabout compassion, going to your
(07:45):
point about compassion, so canyou walk us through, kind of,
what the lead up from 2018 to2021 looked like?
How did you prepare for thismission?
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah, so I was a youth pastor at the time and
before that I think it'simportant to note too before I
got into ministry in 2016,.
But before that I was in therestaurant industry for 12 years
, so I was in the restaurantindustry right out of high
school.
And so in 2018, when we're kindof just thinking like, okay,
(08:16):
what does it look like toactually start a church and how
do you practically care for thehomeless population as a church,
my wife and I, about a year Ithink, we talked and it was the
following August in 2019, wherewe had kind of came up with this
idea of, well, what if we openlike a coffee shop and that is a
(08:38):
place where the church can meet, you can save money on renting
a building.
As a pastor, part of my salarycould come from the coffee shop,
so you can actually reach thepoor and the church can be made
up of the poor and still befinancially stable.
And we really liked that idea,not only from a missional aspect
as a church, but you could alsohire people that are part of
(09:02):
the homeless population andpractically make a difference
that way, and all whilespreading awareness of
homelessness.
And so we really loved thatidea and got excited about that
and so that was 2019.
And so we then we're part ofthe Christian and Missionary
Alliance denomination and sothere's different people you
(09:22):
talk to about you know, hey,we're thinking about starting a
church, like the church that weare part of kind of started that
conversation for us, and sothere was a big assessment that
her and I went through for threeand a half days where it really
kind of it's kind of like areally intense marriage retreat
that the denomination helps youdiscern Should you be planting a
(09:44):
church.
Is this wise, like well, youknow, are you fit to do that?
And so we got the light to goto continue to move forward, and
so we actually thought we wouldend up downtown.
And as we were looking so welive in Champlin and as we were
looking at different places,someone, dan Adler, at Heart of
the City Music Factory in Anoka,had reached out and was curious
(10:08):
, reached out to see if therewere any church planters in the
area.
And we looked up Heart of theCity Music Factory.
It's right next to Hope forYouth, in the same building,
which is an organization thatcares for youth experiencing
homelessness.
In the same building, which isan organization that cares for
youth experiencing homelessness.
We didn't know.
(10:28):
Stepping Stone Emergency Housingeven exists, which is a
homeless shelter in Anoka thathouses 66 people at a given time
, and so we were just kind ofblown away and just felt this
confirmation, over and over andover again, that we were
supposed to be in Anoka andreally, especially with suburban
homelessness, as you mentioned,you don't see.
You don't necessarily seepeople experiencing homelessness
.
You do, but not to the extentthat it actually exists.
(10:49):
And so part of it for us was wecan help, but we can also help
spread awareness.
So, yeah, so the church startedin the summer of 2021.
We purposely met close to theshelter so that we can build
relationships with the residents.
We provide transportation forthe residents to the church, but
all the while we were trying tofigure out what does it look
(11:11):
like to actually open a coffeehouse, turns out you need money
to do that.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
What.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yeah, no way.
So very quickly we decided tojust start on the small side,
start a coffee cart.
We could start a coffee cartwith $10,000 to $15,000 and
start at least employing oneperson and kind of start
building a customer database andjust figure out what we were
(11:36):
doing.
And then last year at thebeginning of 2024, we found a
location for the coffee houseand signed a lease in May.
We opened at the end of October, so it's called Compassion
Coffee and so now, as of today,um, the coffee house is open
Monday through Saturday.
We're able to employ peopleaffected by homelessness.
(11:57):
Sunday mornings the churchmeets, uh, there, and and we're
living out the vision, the dreamthat god had given us.
Um, yeah, six, six years ago,which is six and a half years
ago, which is kind of crazy andit feels surreal yeah, I'll bet,
I'll bet.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Yeah, um, yeah, that's, that's so cool.
So when you had the coffee cartwould you go to but uh, I
suppose you to events, kind oflike a food truck.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yeah, our first event was a Halloween event with the
Anoka Lions.
They invited us they have a bigwhite tent at the Halloween
festivities and they invited usto set up, and so that was our
very first event.
It was october of 2022.
Um, after that, we starteddoing different ones.
You know, there's a holidaymarket that the noca hosts as
(12:49):
well.
Um, we participated in thefarmer's market, so we would set
up, um, a little, a littlestand on wednesday afternoons.
Um, yeah, we would.
We started getting booked at atdifferent like weddings and
different kind of events wherepeople will hire us schools, the
school system so people would,schools would actually hire us
for, like, a teacherappreciation event, and so that
(13:11):
was that was really cool.
So, yeah, it was kind of likeword of mouth and we're just,
you know, we were open to prettymuch every opportunity and we
some events, you made money,money.
Some events, you chalk it up asa marketing opportunity, right
for a learning experience andyou, you know, you just kind of
get from there.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Creating awareness, creating word of mouth yeah,
that's um.
And for folks who might belistening that don't know, anoka
, minnesota.
The town has a lot of eventsand they are the Halloween
capital of the world.
(13:49):
So I kind of giggled to myselfwhen you said their first event
was a Halloween.
So I mean they do Halloweenlike nobody else I've ever seen,
ever.
So now you've got your spot indowntown.
I'm guessing they always haveone or two big sidewalk type.
(14:10):
I mean, yeah, yeah, there's um,yeah, they do.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
They do quite a few large events downtown.
We're actually, we're, we're inAnoka and we're off main street
, but we're, we're, we're inAnoka, but, and we're off main
street but we're, we're actuallylike just outside the downtown
area, so we're not part of youknow, there's like a they call
it, discover Anoka, where it'slike all these shops and
restaurants and stuff that arelike part of the downtown group
we're on the west end of mainstreet and so down, like, if
(14:40):
you're going, if you're fromdowntown Anoka, if you you go
down Main Street, there's like aDairy Queen.
On the other side there's aMaurer Chevrolet.
We're down at the old, likeAnoka.
Shopping Center next to CrownBakery.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Okay, I had you on the other end, I had you on the
east end.
I don't know why, when I wasthinking about it, I was.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
I mean I know, yeah, no, it's all good.
I mean it just opened.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
So yeah, so we're.
So you're on the west side ofthe river, yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Yeah, we took over the old.
It was a Jelly Bean and JuliaBBQ restaurant and they moved to
Coon Rapids and so we tooktheir old location.
Okay, so do you have a kitchenthere?
Then time we use the actualkitchen with the hoods is what
(15:34):
we bake cookies, um and uh.
So we have somebody that it'shis family recipe, it's called
Mr Chipper's cookies.
So he makes a cookie dough andthen we bake the cookies, um,
and they're delicious cookies,um.
But we don't like.
We're right next to crown bakery, you know they.
We have a, we have apartnership with them where they
provide all our baked goods andthey also sell sandwiches, and
(15:57):
so we also want to be honoringto them and not try to be
competition to them, and so Ithink, as time goes on, we'll
kind of figure out like whatfood looks like for us.
But yeah, right now it's mostlycoffee and pastries that we
serve, and we really do striveto have high quality, high
quality coffee.
The coffee that we serve isfrom Silverbird Roasting, and
(16:21):
he's a local roaster in StAnthony.
He's won national championshipsand I mean it's really yeah,
it's really high quality coffee,and so we really do.
You know, we take pride inserving a high quality drink.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
So, as a former Catholic kid, this is not your
church basement coffee.
This is the good stuff.
This is not your coffee anddonuts after mass coffee?
Speaker 2 (16:47):
No, yeah it's good coffee and one of the funny
things is.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
You have an experienced employee, though
right doing the coffee.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Yeah, lily, she's our operations director, so she
runs the coffee house.
So she's our operationsdirector, um, so she runs the
coffee house, so she knows whatshe's doing.
If you ever see like the reallycute latte art, that's most
likely her.
If you see like stuff thatlooks more abstract, that's
probably me um, making it.
But, um, yeah, so she does.
She does a really good job, um,and and's part of like you know
(17:16):
, when we employ people, we wantto, we want to be able to offer
skills barista skills, lifeskills but some of the fun stuff
, like the artsy thing, islearning how to do latte art,
and that is I mean, that reallyis a skill to learn, and so
we're still working on that aswell, but we'd love to do like a
latte art class at some pointtoo.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
That would be so much fun and do some fun community
events yeah.
So, yeah, let's talk about theskills, Because you do you hire
people experiencing homelessness, right?
Yeah, and you, I mean that'spart of your whole mission is
giving them skills, workexperience that they can take
and put on a resume and takeforward with them into life,
(17:57):
right?
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, we're currently
working out.
So right now it's prettyinformal as it relates to the
training and the skills that wewant to work on, but we're
working on a four-month kind oflike a cohort style.
We were actually inspired byWild Flyer Coffee.
They're in Minneapolis, in StPaul.
(18:19):
They have a couple of shops andthey hire youth experiencing
homelessness and they actuallyhave like a cohort that people
go through and they do aphenomenal job, and so we've
been inspired by how they aredoing that, and so we're not
like taking their thing, butwe're kind of like figuring out
what does it look like for usand what is working for other
(18:40):
places and how do we incorporatethat?
And do we do a cohort or is itjust kind of like an individual
style, and so we're kind ofworking out the kinks there.
But, yeah, we want to offer thebarista skills and life skills.
So you know, when I say likebarista work skills, that's, um,
how do you work the cashregister?
How do you make a drink Right?
How do you brew coffee, um, andthat sort of thing.
(19:03):
How customer service skills,how do you, even when you're
having a bad day, how do youinteract with someone where you
can, you know, smile and notfake for people and be aware of
verbal you know the verbalinteractions but also the
nonverbal gestures thatcustomers make and just helping
become aware of some of thosethings.
(19:24):
And then, yeah, and safety andsanitation and things like that
For life skills.
You know that is more of likeall right, what does budgeting
look like?
How are you managing your money?
Things like that, where youknow even things like meal
planning and how do you decidewhat groceries to buy and how to
(19:45):
, how to plan out your meals andhow to when you have conflict
with someone, what do you?
What do you do if someone blowsup at you?
How do you?
And so you know we can kind ofdistinguish between hard skills
and soft skills of how do wework with people and how do we
develop that.
And it's not and it's to youknow.
(20:08):
So our vision is to empowerpeople affected by homelessness.
Our hope is that we're able toteach those things and that, as
people learn those things, thatthey're able to take them with
whatever it is that they want todo in life.
Not necessarily that we expectthem to stay at compassion
coffee forever, but maybe thatmeans that they'll go and start
their own business, or go tocollege or, you know, their next
(20:28):
job, that they have theseskills, that that they're, you
know, better equipped, um, butwe just, yeah, we want to add
value to their lives.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Oh for sure, and all of that stuff is so important to
have.
I'm not sure that kids leavinghigh school have some of those
skills that you guys teach.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
And it's so essential yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
In my restaurant days .
You know, I I worked for arestaurant called Qdoba Mexican
Grill and I worked with a lot ofdifferent people and I one of
the things that I've that I justI found fascinating is the
amount of like conversations youcan have about normal everyday
life.
While you're cooking chicken orwashing dishes or scrubbing the
(21:15):
floor like, you end up talkingabout who knows what right,
right, and so one of the.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
I do not possess that skill.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
One of the things that I really value is like you
get to, you get to knowsomebody's life story and you
just talk about life, right,like coworkers.
It's just yeah, you just end uptalking about life, and so we
also see, I think there's a lotof value in just the skills that
we can provide, but being ableto show that you actually care
(21:46):
about somebody and that you'rein their corner and that you'll
encourage them on a bad day andthat they know that they have
somebody to go to when they'vegot questions or they have
issues, somebody to go to whenthey've got questions or they
have issues.
I think that alone having thatkind of relationship outside of
the skills is really, is reallycrucial.
And so we also want to providethat of just like hey, like when
(22:07):
life just hits you, like youknow, you can call us, you know
that we actually we do care.
We're not, you're not just anemployee, you're part of this
compassion family and so we soyeah, we, we that's a big value
that we have as well.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Yeah, for sure.
Oh, wow, that's so cool.
Yeah, Because have you?
You haven't really been openlong enough to go through a
couple of employees and havethem leave and then come back
and say you know, you guyshelped so much?
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Yeah, we do.
We have had with the coffeecart.
You know, we have had anemployee that we've hired off
and on, kind of as they've gonethrough things, and so we've
learned a little bit of that andbeing able to see and I think
you know we're able to see likesome of the impact.
But I think, greater than that,one of the things I appreciate
about Inoka is that there's alot of organizations doing work,
(23:00):
and so when we partner withHope for Youth or Family Promise
or Stepping Stone, it's kind ofa collection of like hey,
there's all these differentplaces that are caring for
people and it's cool to be ableto see collectively how you can
make a difference as a community.
So it is fun to celebrate.
There's a lot of overlap there.
(23:20):
We even see yeah, I was goingto say there's even.
You know there's people thatwe'll recognize.
Both Lily and I worked at theshelter and so there will be
people that we recognize thatwill come in to the coffee house
and people that areexperiencing homelessness and
just want to sit, and you knowwe're able to offer just a free
(23:43):
coffee and they can just sit ina quiet space, especially in the
winter, you know it's warm andbeing able to just like be be in
a space and know that they'resafe, like I think that's that's
valuable, and so I think beingable to work with other
organizations to be able to carefor the community is great.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Yeah, yeah, and you were just kind of talking about
something I wanted to bring up.
Um, the collaboration betweendifferent organizations is so
cool.
I know one of my guests you areworking with right now, jill
(24:25):
Morrison from Be MemorableMarketing, and that just because
you work with a lot of otherdifferent organizations there in
Anoka to make all this magichappen, right?
Speaker 2 (24:43):
I mean Hope for Youth , yeah, to make all this magic
happen, right, I mean hope foryouth, yeah, and yeah it's.
I mean it's a, it is a, it's acommunity effort and, um, you
know, I I so for, for lily and I, we both worked at stepping
stone uh, for a while she wasthe intake specialist, uh for
specialist for her time there,and I did a combination of some
different things, but I thinkone of the things that even
(25:05):
Stepping Stone just provided uswas we learned a lot of how to
care for people experiencinghomelessness and even just
learning and practicinglistening.
Like you know, we learned tolisten growing up, but like
being able to just be quiet andnot say anything and listen to
someone for 10 minutes and carefor them afterwards and, like
(25:38):
you know, simple things of usingtheir, are able to go and
volunteer.
There's practical things thatyou get to experience where
you're not only just helpingsomebody but you're actually
growing as a person.
In my experience being aroundpeople experiencing homelessness
, I actually grew physically.
I grew a ton through that, andso I learned a lot.
A lot of times, I think we thinklike, oh, I'm going to come and
(26:01):
be the hero, and I just don'tthink that's the case.
Like I think, if you enter itwith humility, that you actually
grow.
And so I think all thesedifferent organizations, family,
promise our parents and kidsexperiencing homelessness.
You've got Hope for Youth,which is the youth, and then
(26:23):
you've got Stepping Stone, whichis 18 plus, and so you have all
the age ranges and they all.
You know they do very differentthings and yet collectively
they care for the unsheltered,our unsheltered friends.
And so I think when people areable to learn, hey, we can all
make a big difference when wework together.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
I think that's huge I think I just learned something
family pathways is that, see,because I only know them as like
a discount store oh uh, familypromise, not family path oh
family.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Okay, yeah.
Yeah so they're in Coon Rapids,but they're actually building
like an apartment style kind ofshelter where families can live,
and yeah, so they're.
I mean they're doing reallyimportant work as well.
And those are just you know,those are just the three that we
(27:17):
really have ongoingconversations with.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
But there's many more organizations that I'm sure
you've.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
you know you've met lots of other people doing a lot
of work as well that it's justlike which is good.
It's also like kind of sad thatwe need so many organizations
because of how many people areyou know are in need, but
obviously we're very thankfulthat those organizations exist
as well.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Yeah, and it's a.
It's a scary time and I meanI've I've spoken with, do you
know, susan Dearson?
She used to run NACE and nowshe runs Meals on Wheels.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
I know of them.
I don't know if I've actuallymet her.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Okay, we were just talking about how, you know, a
lot of people right now are,like one medical emergency, away
from needing the services thatyou guys provide, you know, or
(28:24):
needing the assistance of a foodshelf or what have you.
And it's sad that we're in thatposition, but it's good to know
we have guys like you and Lilyand, I'm sorry, your wife, my
wife.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Yeah, my wife is Kelsey Yep and then Lily.
Kelsey yeah, kelsey, and thenLily.
We're in the coffee house.
So Kelsey does a lot of thebehind the scenes, so her and I
both serve as, like,co-executive directors.
She works for Magnify FinancialCredit Union, which also does a
lot of giving back to thecommunity, and so it's cool how
(29:00):
our lives have kind of uhoverlapped in that way as well.
But she does, uh, all thebehind the scenes stuff of
marketing and updating thewebsite and you know things like
that as well.
Um, so yeah, there's lots of,lots of different people helping
in a lot of different ways.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Yeah, oh, this is so amazing no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
I really appreciate the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
No worries, take care and we will talk to you soon.
All right, bye, bye, bye.
I want to thank you for takingthis time to listen to the
episode with my guest, robBergfolk of Compassion Coffee
and Compassion Church in Anoka.
I hope you were able to takesomething positive from the time
(30:07):
you spent with us.
Maybe you'll be inspired, maybeyou'll be motivated, maybe
you'll be moved.
If you experienced any of thosepositive feelings, please,
please, please, consider sharingthis podcast with your friends
and family.
I'm always striving to offeryou a better podcast.
So you know, give me somefeedback, let me know how you
(30:28):
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Email me, leave me a message onmy socials.
It would mean the world.
Also.
Feel free to follow us on oursocials like Facebook, instagram
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This podcast is part of theMayday Media Network.
If you have an idea for apodcast and need some production
(30:51):
assistance, or you already havea podcast and are looking for a
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(31:16):
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We will be back again next weekwith a new episode, and we
would be honored if you wouldjoin us.
You've been listening to theKindness Matters Podcast.
I'm your host, mike Rathbun.
Have a fantastic week.
Well, hello there and welcome.
You are listening to theKindness Matters podcast and I
am your host, mike Rathbun.
What is this podcast all about?
It's about kindness.
It's a pushback againsteverything negative that we see
in the news and on social mediatoday, and it's a way to
(00:20):
highlight people, organizationsthat are simply striving to make
their little corner of theworld a little better place.
If you want to join in on theconversation, feel free, Go
ahead and follow us on all ofyour social media feeds.
We're on Facebook, instagram,tiktok.
We're even on LinkedIn underMike Rathbun Check us out.
(00:44):
Uh, we're even on linkedinunder mike rathbun.
Check us out.
And, in the meantime, so sitback, relax, enjoy and we'll get
into the kindness matterspodcast.
Hey, welcome everybody to theshow.
Thank you so much for fortaking 30-ish minutes of your
time and spending it with us,with me and my guests today, as
(01:10):
I always do, I will remind youthat if there's something that
you hear in this podcast thatinspires you, that moves you,
that motivates you, please makesure to share this podcast with
your friends and family, yourwork colleagues I've started
(01:30):
saying strangers on the street.
That may or may not becomfortable for you, but you
know.
If the spirit moves you right,feel free to share it.
I would greatly appreciate itand hopefully your friends and
family that you share it withwill appreciate it as well.
So have you ever felt called todo something?
(01:57):
And I always kind of scoffed atthis when I was younger, this
notion of saying, you know, Ireally feel like this is
something I need to be doing.
But as I get older, I kind offeel that it's actually a thing,
(02:17):
and maybe this podcast, maybethat's my thing, maybe this
podcast, maybe that's my thing.
Well, I'll tell you what.
My guest today is Rob BergfolkI really have to enunciate there
, I apologize Rob who is thefounder of Compassion Church and
(02:44):
Compassion Coffee in Anoka,minnesota, and I find his story
amazing and uplifting, and Ithink you will too, and you were
felt called to something rightRob.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yeah, that's right, compassion, church and
compassion coffee is a result ofme sensing a call.
For me, obviously, as a pastor,this call is from God and but I
recognize, you know, peopleeven that don't believe in God.
Right, like there's, I think,people, I think we can all
(03:24):
relate to that there's, there'sa greater purpose in life that
we can, that we can find, and so, for me, my relationship with
god, um, that, yeah, that'sresulted in a very specific
calling and a vision that he is,that he has given me, that that
which is the result of that iscompassion, church and Coffee.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah, for sure.
You know what?
I never stopped to think thatmaybe an agnostic or an atheist
might be called to do something.
That's okay Interesting.
I'm going to have to thinkabout that a little bit more.
But let's talk about youbecause you're why we're here
(04:04):
about that a little bit more.
But let's talk about youbecause you're why we're here.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
So this started this started for you kind of in 2018.
Is that right?
Yeah, I mean so my story.
There's a lot of history frombefore that that has kind of
resulted, but specifically forabout compassion, specifically
for about compassion.
Uh, yeah, in 2018, um, therewere the homeless camps
(04:29):
happening off of high wathaavenue, um, and news you know
the different news outlets werereporting on this all throughout
that summer and fall, and youknow there were hundreds of
tents, uh, hundreds of peopleliving what they were calling
tent cities, and so they hadpropane tanks like kitchen, like
you know, it looked like a cityof just with a bunch of tents.
And, yeah, and that broke myheart, and I was reading a book
(04:53):
at the same time and about whatit looks like to be the church,
and I sensed this call from Godthat we were supposed to start a
church to care for the homelesspopulation, and I didn't really
know exactly what that meant,but that was kind of the start
of like, okay, I wonder whatthat looks like.
(05:16):
I wonder if we should do this,if we can do this, and that
started a journey of just kindof listening and trying to be
obedient to what that lookedlike.
So, but, yeah, that startedback in 2018.
And we didn't start the churchtill the summer of 2021.
And so there was really athree-year process of really
(05:37):
discerning should we do this andis this what we're supposed to
do?
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Yeah, well, and that's not something you rush
into right.
Yeah, absolutely, and we'vetalked about the homeless before
.
I've talked with SteveGriffiths you know, steve, I'm
sure and Darlene SparksWashington Dr Darlene Sparks
Washington, I had her onrecently and a theme that kind
(06:08):
of runs through, that is how thehomeless can be right out in
the open but invisible.
But you saw them, yeah, and youfelt, dare I say, compassion.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Yeah, yeah, I, and I saw him through, um.
I think it's important to notetoo, like I didn't, I didn't, I
didn't see anybody because I wasdriving down, like what you
know, we live in Champlin, umand so we stopped because there
was awareness of people weretalking about it, right, people
like the news stations weretalking about it.
(06:44):
Right, people like the newsstations were talking about it.
And so, yeah, there's thisawareness and that's part of
what we're hoping to do withCompassion.
Is helping like a big piece, ishelping care for people in need
, is helping people be awarethat there are actually people
in need.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Yeah, so yeah, for sure, and they were talking
about it again this winter.
Right, because there have beenhow many homeless encampments,
and I don't know for whateverreason.
This seems to happen most inMinneapolis and St Paul.
Yeah, but there were fires inthese camps because of the
(07:21):
propane tanks that they wereusing, and you brought that up
just a second ago.
So I mean, they were back inthe news and yeah, I don't.
So that had nothing to do withanything, I think.
But just going to your pointabout compassion, going to your
(07:45):
point about compassion, so canyou walk us through, kind of,
what the lead up from 2018 to2021 looked like?
How did you prepare for thismission?
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah, so I was a youth pastor at the time and
before that I think it'simportant to note too before I
got into ministry in 2016,.
But before that I was in therestaurant industry for 12 years
, so I was in the restaurantindustry right out of high
school.
And so in 2018, when we're kindof just thinking like, okay,
(08:16):
what does it look like toactually start a church and how
do you practically care for thehomeless population as a church,
my wife and I, about a year Ithink, we talked and it was the
following August in 2019, wherewe had kind of came up with this
idea of, well, what if we openlike a coffee shop and that is a
(08:38):
place where the church can meet, you can save money on renting
a building.
As a pastor, part of my salarycould come from the coffee shop,
so you can actually reach thepoor and the church can be made
up of the poor and still befinancially stable.
And we really liked that idea,not only from a missional aspect
as a church, but you could alsohire people that are part of
(09:02):
the homeless population andpractically make a difference
that way, and all whilespreading awareness of
homelessness.
And so we really loved thatidea and got excited about that
and so that was 2019.
And so we then we're part ofthe Christian and Missionary
Alliance denomination and sothere's different people you
(09:22):
talk to about you know, hey,we're thinking about starting a
church, like the church that weare part of kind of started that
conversation for us, and sothere was a big assessment that
her and I went through for threeand a half days where it really
kind of it's kind of like areally intense marriage retreat
that the denomination helps youdiscern Should you be planting a
(09:44):
church.
Is this wise, like well, youknow, are you fit to do that?
And so we got the light to goto continue to move forward, and
so we actually thought we wouldend up downtown.
And as we were looking so welive in Champlin and as we were
looking at different places,someone, dan Adler, at Heart of
the City Music Factory in Anoka,had reached out and was curious
(10:08):
, reached out to see if therewere any church planters in the
area.
And we looked up Heart of theCity Music Factory.
It's right next to Hope forYouth, in the same building,
which is an organization thatcares for youth experiencing
homelessness.
In the same building, which isan organization that cares for
youth experiencing homelessness.
We didn't know.
(10:28):
Stepping Stone Emergency Housingeven exists, which is a
homeless shelter in Anoka thathouses 66 people at a given time
, and so we were just kind ofblown away and just felt this
confirmation, over and over andover again, that we were
supposed to be in Anoka andreally, especially with suburban
homelessness, as you mentioned,you don't see.
You don't necessarily seepeople experiencing homelessness
.
You do, but not to the extentthat it actually exists.
(10:49):
And so part of it for us was wecan help, but we can also help
spread awareness.
So, yeah, so the church startedin the summer of 2021.
We purposely met close to theshelter so that we can build
relationships with the residents.
We provide transportation forthe residents to the church, but
all the while we were trying tofigure out what does it look
(11:11):
like to actually open a coffeehouse, turns out you need money
to do that.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
What.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yeah, no way.
So very quickly we decided tojust start on the small side,
start a coffee cart.
We could start a coffee cartwith $10,000 to $15,000 and
start at least employing oneperson and kind of start
building a customer database andjust figure out what we were
(11:36):
doing.
And then last year at thebeginning of 2024, we found a
location for the coffee houseand signed a lease in May.
We opened at the end of October, so it's called Compassion
Coffee and so now, as of today,um, the coffee house is open
Monday through Saturday.
We're able to employ peopleaffected by homelessness.
(11:57):
Sunday mornings the churchmeets, uh, there, and and we're
living out the vision, the dreamthat god had given us.
Um, yeah, six, six years ago,which is six and a half years
ago, which is kind of crazy andit feels surreal yeah, I'll bet,
I'll bet.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Yeah, um, yeah, that's, that's so cool.
So when you had the coffee cartwould you go to but uh, I
suppose you to events, kind oflike a food truck.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yeah, our first event was a Halloween event with the
Anoka Lions.
They invited us they have a bigwhite tent at the Halloween
festivities and they invited usto set up, and so that was our
very first event.
It was october of 2022.
Um, after that, we starteddoing different ones.
You know, there's a holidaymarket that the noca hosts as
(12:49):
well.
Um, we participated in thefarmer's market, so we would set
up, um, a little, a littlestand on wednesday afternoons.
Um, yeah, we would.
We started getting booked at atdifferent like weddings and
different kind of events wherepeople will hire us schools, the
school system so people would,schools would actually hire us
for, like, a teacherappreciation event, and so that
(13:11):
was that was really cool.
So, yeah, it was kind of likeword of mouth and we're just,
you know, we were open to prettymuch every opportunity and we
some events, you made money,money.
Some events, you chalk it up asa marketing opportunity, right
for a learning experience andyou, you know, you just kind of
get from there.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Creating awareness, creating word of mouth yeah,
that's um.
And for folks who might belistening that don't know, anoka
, minnesota.
The town has a lot of eventsand they are the Halloween
capital of the world.
(13:49):
So I kind of giggled to myselfwhen you said their first event
was a Halloween.
So I mean they do Halloweenlike nobody else I've ever seen,
ever.
So now you've got your spot indowntown.
I'm guessing they always haveone or two big sidewalk type.
(14:10):
I mean, yeah, yeah, there's um,yeah, they do.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
They do quite a few large events downtown.
We're actually, we're, we're inAnoka and we're off main street
, but we're, we're, we're inAnoka, but, and we're off main
street but we're, we're actuallylike just outside the downtown
area, so we're not part of youknow, there's like a they call
it, discover Anoka, where it'slike all these shops and
restaurants and stuff that arelike part of the downtown group
we're on the west end of mainstreet and so down, like, if
(14:40):
you're going, if you're fromdowntown Anoka, if you you go
down Main Street, there's like aDairy Queen.
On the other side there's aMaurer Chevrolet.
We're down at the old, likeAnoka.
Shopping Center next to CrownBakery.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Okay, I had you on the other end, I had you on the
east end.
I don't know why, when I wasthinking about it, I was.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
I mean I know, yeah, no, it's all good.
I mean it just opened.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
So yeah, so we're.
So you're on the west side ofthe river, yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Yeah, we took over the old.
It was a Jelly Bean and JuliaBBQ restaurant and they moved to
Coon Rapids and so we tooktheir old location.
Okay, so do you have a kitchenthere?
Then time we use the actualkitchen with the hoods is what
(15:34):
we bake cookies, um and uh.
So we have somebody that it'shis family recipe, it's called
Mr Chipper's cookies.
So he makes a cookie dough andthen we bake the cookies, um,
and they're delicious cookies,um.
But we don't like.
We're right next to crown bakery, you know they.
We have a, we have apartnership with them where they
provide all our baked goods andthey also sell sandwiches, and
(15:57):
so we also want to be honoringto them and not try to be
competition to them, and so Ithink, as time goes on, we'll
kind of figure out like whatfood looks like for us.
But yeah, right now it's mostlycoffee and pastries that we
serve, and we really do striveto have high quality, high
quality coffee.
The coffee that we serve isfrom Silverbird Roasting, and
(16:21):
he's a local roaster in StAnthony.
He's won national championshipsand I mean it's really yeah,
it's really high quality coffee,and so we really do.
You know, we take pride inserving a high quality drink.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
So, as a former Catholic kid, this is not your
church basement coffee.
This is the good stuff.
This is not your coffee anddonuts after mass coffee?
Speaker 2 (16:47):
No, yeah it's good coffee and one of the funny
things is.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
You have an experienced employee, though
right doing the coffee.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Yeah, lily, she's our operations director, so she
runs the coffee house.
So she's our operationsdirector, um, so she runs the
coffee house, so she knows whatshe's doing.
If you ever see like the reallycute latte art, that's most
likely her.
If you see like stuff thatlooks more abstract, that's
probably me um, making it.
But, um, yeah, so she does.
She does a really good job, um,and and's part of like you know
(17:16):
, when we employ people, we wantto, we want to be able to offer
skills barista skills, lifeskills but some of the fun stuff
, like the artsy thing, islearning how to do latte art,
and that is I mean, that reallyis a skill to learn, and so
we're still working on that aswell, but we'd love to do like a
latte art class at some pointtoo.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
That would be so much fun and do some fun community
events yeah.
So, yeah, let's talk about theskills, Because you do you hire
people experiencing homelessness, right?
Yeah, and you, I mean that'spart of your whole mission is
giving them skills, workexperience that they can take
and put on a resume and takeforward with them into life,
(17:57):
right?
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, we're currently
working out.
So right now it's prettyinformal as it relates to the
training and the skills that wewant to work on, but we're
working on a four-month kind oflike a cohort style.
We were actually inspired byWild Flyer Coffee.
They're in Minneapolis, in StPaul.
(18:19):
They have a couple of shops andthey hire youth experiencing
homelessness and they actuallyhave like a cohort that people
go through and they do aphenomenal job, and so we've
been inspired by how they aredoing that, and so we're not
like taking their thing, butwe're kind of like figuring out
what does it look like for usand what is working for other
(18:40):
places and how do we incorporatethat?
And do we do a cohort or is itjust kind of like an individual
style, and so we're kind ofworking out the kinks there.
But, yeah, we want to offer thebarista skills and life skills.
So you know, when I say likebarista work skills, that's, um,
how do you work the cashregister?
How do you make a drink Right?
How do you brew coffee, um, andthat sort of thing.
(19:03):
How customer service skills,how do you, even when you're
having a bad day, how do youinteract with someone where you
can, you know, smile and notfake for people and be aware of
verbal you know the verbalinteractions but also the
nonverbal gestures thatcustomers make and just helping
become aware of some of thosethings.
(19:24):
And then, yeah, and safety andsanitation and things like that
For life skills.
You know that is more of likeall right, what does budgeting
look like?
How are you managing your money?
Things like that, where youknow even things like meal
planning and how do you decidewhat groceries to buy and how to
(19:45):
, how to plan out your meals andhow to when you have conflict
with someone, what do you?
What do you do if someone blowsup at you?
How do you?
And so you know we can kind ofdistinguish between hard skills
and soft skills of how do wework with people and how do we
develop that.
And it's not and it's to youknow.
(20:08):
So our vision is to empowerpeople affected by homelessness.
Our hope is that we're able toteach those things and that, as
people learn those things, thatthey're able to take them with
whatever it is that they want todo in life.
Not necessarily that we expectthem to stay at compassion
coffee forever, but maybe thatmeans that they'll go and start
their own business, or go tocollege or, you know, their next
(20:28):
job, that they have theseskills, that that they're, you
know, better equipped, um, butwe just, yeah, we want to add
value to their lives.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Oh for sure, and all of that stuff is so important to
have.
I'm not sure that kids leavinghigh school have some of those
skills that you guys teach.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
And it's so essential yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
In my restaurant days .
You know, I I worked for arestaurant called Qdoba Mexican
Grill and I worked with a lot ofdifferent people and I one of
the things that I've that I justI found fascinating is the
amount of like conversations youcan have about normal everyday
life.
While you're cooking chicken orwashing dishes or scrubbing the
(21:15):
floor like, you end up talkingabout who knows what right,
right, and so one of the.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
I do not possess that skill.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
One of the things that I really value is like you
get to, you get to knowsomebody's life story and you
just talk about life, right,like coworkers.
It's just yeah, you just end uptalking about life, and so we
also see, I think there's a lotof value in just the skills that
we can provide, but being ableto show that you actually care
(21:46):
about somebody and that you'rein their corner and that you'll
encourage them on a bad day andthat they know that they have
somebody to go to when they'vegot questions or they have
issues, somebody to go to whenthey've got questions or they
have issues.
I think that alone having thatkind of relationship outside of
the skills is really, is reallycrucial.
And so we also want to providethat of just like hey, like when
(22:07):
life just hits you, like youknow, you can call us, you know
that we actually we do care.
We're not, you're not just anemployee, you're part of this
compassion family and so we soyeah, we, we that's a big value
that we have as well.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Yeah, for sure.
Oh, wow, that's so cool.
Yeah, Because have you?
You haven't really been openlong enough to go through a
couple of employees and havethem leave and then come back
and say you know, you guyshelped so much?
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Yeah, we do.
We have had with the coffeecart.
You know, we have had anemployee that we've hired off
and on, kind of as they've gonethrough things, and so we've
learned a little bit of that andbeing able to see and I think
you know we're able to see likesome of the impact.
But I think, greater than that,one of the things I appreciate
about Inoka is that there's alot of organizations doing work,
(23:00):
and so when we partner withHope for Youth or Family Promise
or Stepping Stone, it's kind ofa collection of like hey,
there's all these differentplaces that are caring for
people and it's cool to be ableto see collectively how you can
make a difference as a community.
So it is fun to celebrate.
There's a lot of overlap there.
(23:20):
We even see yeah, I was goingto say there's even.
You know there's people thatwe'll recognize.
Both Lily and I worked at theshelter and so there will be
people that we recognize thatwill come in to the coffee house
and people that areexperiencing homelessness and
just want to sit, and you knowwe're able to offer just a free
(23:43):
coffee and they can just sit ina quiet space, especially in the
winter, you know it's warm andbeing able to just like be be in
a space and know that they'resafe, like I think that's that's
valuable, and so I think beingable to work with other
organizations to be able to carefor the community is great.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Yeah, yeah, and you were just kind of talking about
something I wanted to bring up.
Um, the collaboration betweendifferent organizations is so
cool.
I know one of my guests you areworking with right now, jill
(24:25):
Morrison from Be MemorableMarketing, and that just because
you work with a lot of otherdifferent organizations there in
Anoka to make all this magichappen, right?
Speaker 2 (24:43):
I mean Hope for Youth , yeah, to make all this magic
happen, right, I mean hope foryouth, yeah, and yeah it's.
I mean it's a, it is a, it's acommunity effort and, um, you
know, I I so for, for lily and I, we both worked at stepping
stone uh, for a while she wasthe intake specialist, uh for
specialist for her time there,and I did a combination of some
different things, but I thinkone of the things that even
(25:05):
Stepping Stone just provided uswas we learned a lot of how to
care for people experiencinghomelessness and even just
learning and practicinglistening.
Like you know, we learned tolisten growing up, but like
being able to just be quiet andnot say anything and listen to
someone for 10 minutes and carefor them afterwards and, like
(25:38):
you know, simple things of usingtheir, are able to go and
volunteer.
There's practical things thatyou get to experience where
you're not only just helpingsomebody but you're actually
growing as a person.
In my experience being aroundpeople experiencing homelessness
, I actually grew physically.
I grew a ton through that, andso I learned a lot.
A lot of times, I think we thinklike, oh, I'm going to come and
(26:01):
be the hero, and I just don'tthink that's the case.
Like I think, if you enter itwith humility, that you actually
grow.
And so I think all thesedifferent organizations, family,
promise our parents and kidsexperiencing homelessness.
You've got Hope for Youth,which is the youth, and then
(26:23):
you've got Stepping Stone, whichis 18 plus, and so you have all
the age ranges and they all.
You know they do very differentthings and yet collectively
they care for the unsheltered,our unsheltered friends.
And so I think when people areable to learn, hey, we can all
make a big difference when wework together.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
I think that's huge I think I just learned something
family pathways is that, see,because I only know them as like
a discount store oh uh, familypromise, not family path oh
family.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Okay, yeah.
Yeah so they're in Coon Rapids,but they're actually building
like an apartment style kind ofshelter where families can live,
and yeah, so they're.
I mean they're doing reallyimportant work as well.
And those are just you know,those are just the three that we
(27:17):
really have ongoingconversations with.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
But there's many more organizations that I'm sure
you've.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
you know you've met lots of other people doing a lot
of work as well that it's justlike which is good.
It's also like kind of sad thatwe need so many organizations
because of how many people areyou know are in need, but
obviously we're very thankfulthat those organizations exist
as well.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Yeah, and it's a.
It's a scary time and I meanI've I've spoken with, do you
know, susan Dearson?
She used to run NACE and nowshe runs Meals on Wheels.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
I know of them.
I don't know if I've actuallymet her.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Okay, we were just talking about how, you know, a
lot of people right now are,like one medical emergency, away
from needing the services thatyou guys provide, you know, or
(28:24):
needing the assistance of a foodshelf or what have you.
And it's sad that we're in thatposition, but it's good to know
we have guys like you and Lilyand, I'm sorry, your wife, my
wife.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Yeah, my wife is Kelsey Yep and then Lily.
Kelsey yeah, kelsey, and thenLily.
We're in the coffee house.
So Kelsey does a lot of thebehind the scenes, so her and I
both serve as, like,co-executive directors.
She works for Magnify FinancialCredit Union, which also does a
lot of giving back to thecommunity, and so it's cool how
(29:00):
our lives have kind of uhoverlapped in that way as well.
But she does, uh, all thebehind the scenes stuff of
marketing and updating thewebsite and you know things like
that as well.
Um, so yeah, there's lots of,lots of different people helping
in a lot of different ways.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Yeah, oh, this is so amazing no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
I really appreciate the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
No worries, take care and we will talk to you soon.
All right, bye, bye, bye.
I want to thank you for takingthis time to listen to the
episode with my guest, robBergfolk of Compassion Coffee
and Compassion Church in Anoka.
I hope you were able to takesomething positive from the time
(30:07):
you spent with us.
Maybe you'll be inspired, maybeyou'll be motivated, maybe
you'll be moved.
If you experienced any of thosepositive feelings, please,
please, please, consider sharingthis podcast with your friends
and family.
I'm always striving to offeryou a better podcast.
So you know, give me somefeedback, let me know how you
(30:28):
think I'm doing.
Email me, leave me a message onmy socials.
It would mean the world.
Also.
Feel free to follow us on oursocials like Facebook, instagram
, linkedin and TikTok.
This podcast is part of theMayday Media Network.
If you have an idea for apodcast and need some production
(30:51):
assistance, or you already havea podcast and are looking for a
supportive network to join,check out maydaymedianetworkcom
and check out the many differentshows like Afrocentric Spoil,
my Movie Generation Mixtape In aPickle Radio Show, wake Up and
Dream with D'Anthony Palin, staxO'Pax and the Time Pals and the
(31:16):
Time Pals.
We will be back again next weekwith a new episode, and we
would be honored if you wouldjoin us.
You've been listening to theKindness Matters Podcast.
I'm your host, mike Rathbun.
Have a fantastic week.
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