Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie Kishore.
Hi Katie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
The Kindness Origin Story – from website – posted in 2020
Hi, I’m Katie Kishore – founder of Kindness Cafe + Play and proud mama of these two sweet munchkins!
I love road trips, so for spring break in 2017 the girls and I rented a minivan! I packed a cooler, a port-a-crib, and likely 1,317 other necessities for little ones. We also picked up two of our favorite friends, Mandy Peacock and her 10 week-old son, Walter. We listened to Earth, Wind, and Fire’s September on repeat, ate more than a few applesauce pouches and managed to arrive in Wilmington, NC from our home in Charlottesville, VA in just under five and a half hours — two stops!
We’d planned this journey because three months earlier a friend had sent me this 90 second video about a coffee shop employing people with cognitive disabilities. (If you haven’t seen the video, watch it, NOW! Even if you know all about Bitty & Beau’s, you’ve eaten breakfast there and you wear their hoodie every Friday, this video is worth watching — maybe again or a third time, too!) Kiran has Down syndrome, my cousin, Charlie, has mitochondrial disease, and this video leaves few eyes dry. For 3 months, I couldn’t get this place and this video off my mind. Checking out this coffee shop was a must.
And, well, Mandy is both fiercely loyal and always up for an adventure. She is also particularly talented at being human, seeing human, and treating everyone as fully human. When I was younger, I worked hard to be a super achiever – as a student and an athlete. But, now I want to be more like Mandy — judging less, showing care more, and embracing the shared humanity in myself and others.
Visiting Bitty & Beau’s confirmed that I wanted to explore the possibility of creating a similar experience in Charlottesville. Their menu boasts excellent coffee, delicious food, and cool gear, but anyone who visits knows they are actually selling a unique experience — a space where people with and without disabilities interact as peers, where connections are made and lives are transformed.
Kindness Cafe + Play is coming to Charlottesville! Our community is ready to support a mission-driven coffee shop and will benefit tremendously from the special experience it will provide. We’ll simply call it Kindness — a gentle reminder of how to treat one another, from our dearest family members to ordinary strangers. For our family and friends, it also will be a nod to my late husband, Krishna Kishore, affectionately known as The K-Man. An uncommonly good person, Kris sought connection in every interaction and was gifted with an exceptionally heavy dose of — you got it — kindness.
I’m good at rolling up my sleeves and working hard to make a vision a reality. We now have a beautiful coffee shop at the YMCA, so let’s put on some catchy music, grab some applesauce pouches, and take this road trip together, good people! Spread kindness (the real stuff) and join the Kindness Community. We can’t wait to meet you!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Working at Kindness Cafe has been full of joy and full of learning. The best part of the journey has been all the amazing people I have met and all the people who have wanted to be a part of our growth and our success. I’ve learned a lot along the way as I was likely underprepared when I began. It’s taken a village to create these amazing community spaces.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Kindness Cafe + Play?
Kindness Cafe + Play is a non-profit coffee shop located at the Brooks Family YMCA and at 480 Rugby Road – near UVA! Kindness provides employment for adults with intellectual disabilities while creating a joyful, inclusive community space. Kindness opened in July of 2020.
Currently, Kindness employs 32 adults with disabilities. These employees have thrived during their time at Kindness. As one employee stated in an interview for a local magazine,
“Kindness has made me realize that I’m more capable than I thought I was.”
Kindness cashier
For most of our employees, this opportunity has been life changing because Kindness provides a supportive environment where success is expected and appropriate scaffolding is provided to each individual. At work our staff is connected socially, has opportunities to learn and grow, and feels a sense of purpose. As one father of a Kindness barista stated,
“We don’t know where [our daughter] would be without Kindness. It has given her a necessary place and purpose.”
Father of a Kindness barista
Any big plans?
Currently, we do not have any big plans coming up. We’re excited for what we have created and looking forward to continuing to serve our community in meaningful ways.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kindnesscafecville.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kindnesscville/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kindnesscville/
