Co-owners Cindy Barker, Steve Elworth and Amber Elworth have brought joy and light to Baton Rouge that shines far past 257 Lee Drive.
The concept of Light House Coffee was born in The Chapel on the Campus church, where the three friends met. Amber had a dream of opening up a coffee shop, and Barker had the business experience to make it happen. Amber knew she wanted to work with refugees since she had taught English to many of Baton Rouge’s refugees through her work with Catholic charities. She and Barker wanted to abolish the misconceptions that coincided with refugees.
“A refugee is a person who has had to leave their country for safety reasons,” Barker said. “They need jobs just like everyone else.”
The co-owners opened Light House Coffee on March 31 and focused on hiring refugees, though anyone is welcome to work at the shop. However, their passion for helping refugees goes far beyond hiring them.
Light House Coffee is in a partnership with “Hands Producing Hope,” which is an organization run by Rebecca Gardner that sells jewelry and other items made by women in poverty. Light House Coffee has a section in the shop devoted to showing and selling the women’s work, some of which is made by local women.
“The organization’s goal is very similar to ours,” Barker said. “We want to empower others, both locally and globally.”
Light House Coffee also supports “Rahab’s Rope,” which donates profit from its jewelry and accessory sales to ending sex trafficking globally. Though Light House Coffee has a passion for helping people across the globe, they also support local business. Its pastries are made fresh by local vendors, and almost every table in the coffee shop has been handcrafted by artisans in Baton Rouge, with four new ones on the way.
The shop’s layout was mostly designed by Amber, with a little help from Pinterest. She has traveled across the U.S. to many different coffee shops and generated her own idea for a fresh new look. She hired Coleman Partners Architects to bring her ideas to life. What used to be a “Mr Dollar” dollar store transformed into an elegant and innovative coffee shop.
“I feel like I have finally found a place that is just the right distance from campus and the right environment to both study and relax,” said mass communication junior Ashley Selzer, who is a customer at Light House Coffee.
Light House Coffee has direct trade with their coffee farmers, which brings coffee beans straight from the coffee belt and into the hands of Lighthouse’s roaster. Customers can enjoy coffee from countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia, El Salvador and Brazil. The shop also has bakery treats, including items like sea salt chocolate chip cookies and fresh bread with goat cheese.
Barker said their mission and the name “Light House” comes from the Bible verse Isaiah 58:10, which speaks about light from people’s good deeds rising in times of darkness. The owners of Light House Coffee care about their refugee workers and trying to help them become a part of the Baton Rouge community.
“We want to try and break the cycle of poverty that often comes with being a refugee in a new country,” Barker said.
The owners said they made sure Light House Coffee was on a bus line and close enough to where the refugees live. They also noticed there was a lack of coffee shops in the area, so they spent roughly 20 months renovating and adding to the existing building to make it what it is today.
“We want to be a place that is open to the entire community,” Barker said. “We are trying to be a place that everyone feels welcome in.”
Light House Coffee opens as a local café for the Baton Rouge community on Friday, April 20, 2018.
