A new vintage café opened on Monday 14th March in Newland, Lincoln, located within the Alive Church.
The Rising Café joins a long list of tearooms and cafe’s in the area, however this one is very different to the rest. All profits made will go to the charity Betel, who provide help for those with alcohol and drug addictions.
Director of the charity Mary Alice Martin, from Birmingham, said: “My husband and I direct the work of Betel which is a charity that takes in people with addiction problems. The Rising Café is one of our income generating works as far as social enterprise to raise funds for the charity.”
The charity began 30-years ago in Spain and are active in 25 different countries including the UK. Most of their funds comes from second hand furniture shops and people offering gardening services.
Mrs Martin said: “We started setting up little cafes in the second hand furniture shops.”
“Last year Coventry Cathedral approached us to open up a café inside the Cathedral, that was a year ago, and that’s gone really well. The Pastors here at Alive church asked us to do the same and to re-decorate and do the same sort of menu, focusing on afternoon tea’s, sandwiches and nice baked goods.”
All of the staff working at the café are former addicts or in recovery, and working enables them to deal with their issues.
The café is open Monday to Saturday from 10.30am-4pm. Menu