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CUMBERLAND — A new restaurant in the downtown area will nourish the body and soul, Martha Macgill said.
She is chairwoman of the board of directors for Community Cafe at 127 N. Centre St., scheduled to open on Labor Day.
The eatery’s goal is to welcome all people regardless of their ability to pay.
Prices will be suggested for meals, and patrons will have the option to pay with money or their volunteer work at the cafe.
“People are just super excited about the idea,” Macgill said.
The cafe’s board has a vision of a community restaurant where everyone has access to nourishing food and is treated with dignity and respect.
As a network partner in One World Everyone Eats, the Cumberland Community Cafe will be the first of its kind in the state of Maryland, she said.
According to the OWEE website, food insecurity affects 800 million people globally, including 17 million households in every American county.
“Experts in many fields have called upon organizations to find new ways to address this serious and sometimes invisible issue,” the website states.
“There are pay-what-you-can community cafes operating across the United States, and even more in the planning stages,” it states.
“The need in our community is great,” Macgill said. “Allegany County’s food insecurity rate is nearly 17%, 55% higher than the national average. The child food insecurity rate is even greater.”
In addition to fresh, locally sourced, healthy meals, the cafe will provide job training and serve as a gathering and networking space.
The Community Cafe initiative began in 2019 when some local folks went to an installation service in Danville, Kentucky, for a former pastor.
While there they had brunch in a community cafe, Macgill said.
Following that trip, “there was great enthusiasm to open a community cafe in Cumberland,” she said.
Interest for the idea grew and folks met during the pandemic to discuss a plan for the restaurant.
In 2022, a formal board began to work to open a cafe as a program under the Allegany County Human Resources Development Commission.
The Cafe later applied for its nonprofit status with the IRS.
In 2023, city resident and Let’s Beautify Cumberland! co-chair Ed Mullaney showed the Centre Street building, which he and his family own, to Macgill and Alison Peters, the cafe board’s treasurer.
“We said, ‘this is the spot,’” Macgill said of their decision to lease the property and its adjoining storefront.
Later that year, “we hosted several open houses in the space as well as provided meeting space for community groups,” she said.
The cafe’s board raised roughly $60,000 for renovations, including a commercial kitchen to be added to the space.
Catholic Parishes of Allegany County, Divine Mercy and Our Lady of the Mountains, bought and delivered three major new appliances, and the cafe received donations of tables, chairs and kitchen equipment from the former Manhattan restaurant, she said.
“It’s been an amazing journey,” Macgill said.
The cafe’s menu will include soups, salads, sandwiches, flatbread and cannoli as its signature dessert.
Peters said the cafe will partner with local farms to be as sustainable as possible and provide the freshest food available.
“Along with this initiative, we want to be as low waste as possible, repurposing things and composting,” she said.
Peters got involved in the Community Cafe initiative soon after she moved to Cumberland in 2021.
“The mission and vision connected with something deep down inside that I have known my entire life — things are simply better when we are in community with one another,” she said.
“Working on the board has allowed me to meet so many new people and to hear their stories, to listen for what matters and to try and make a difference right here in our little slice of the world,” Peters said.
The cafe will begin by opening one day a week and expand its hours of operation “as we train more volunteers for our kitchen,” Peters said.
The goal is to be open Sunday to Thursday “by the time soup season rolls around,” she said.
“Payment is not a barrier to this community, you bring value in yourself,” Peters said.
She said the board is grateful for help from Carl “Buck” Belt Jr. and his company who have provided construction work.
“The Mullaney brothers have been so kind and supportive of this vision as we work together to make this cafe a reality,” Peters said.
“We could not do this without the support of our community and we look forward to sitting down with you for a meal very soon,” she said.
Learn more at communitycafecumberland.wordpress.com.