One of the best things about doing The 425 Show is meeting people that truly care about their community and giving back. It’s safe to say Kristen Zuray, co-founder of The Trail Youth is just that person.
Five years ago Kristen and her husband were walking the trails of Issaquah and discovered an overwhelming number of kids, mostly teenagers, on the trails who were homeless. As a Mother herself she just knew she had to do something to help them. Kristen and her caring volunteers started out by setting up tables along the trail offering the kids free coffee and donuts. Kristen was determined to give them some type of hope, and let them know someone cared.
*Picture courtesy of The Valley Record*
The youth trail coffee tables grew rapidly over the years, but Kristen still felt she needed to do more. Kirsten was able to establish relationships with some of the returning kids and asked what they thought about opening an actual coffee shop, offering a warm safe place to hang out, along with giving them the resources they need when they are ready to move forward. With their grant in hand they found the perfect spot in North Bend and opened The Trail Youth Coffee Home.
*Picture courtesy of Trail Youth Coffee House*
All of this wouldn’t be possible without the outpouring of the community support Kristen received in opening the coffee house. During the process of planning the remodel of her new location she received a call from a film company that wanted to tell her story. This was all a ploy to distract Kristen as Mike Rowe from Returning The Favor had plans to takw care of the entire remodel! With her volunteers on board to keep it a secret, they managed to keep Kristen out of the business while they secretly remodeled the entire coffee house, and filled it with equipment donated by numerous companies in the area. Mike Rowe and his crew filmed the entire surprise on his episode of Returning The Favor, ‘Grounds Of Love’.
*Picture courtesy of Returning The Favor Facebook*
After seeing how involved the community was, Kristen knew she had to open this up to not only the youths but the public as well. They are open from 7:00 am – 2:00 pm and not only offer coffee, and treats – they help the youths train in their Barista programs, offer volunteer credits for school, and have them assist in special event set ups. It’s the perfect location as you are traveling over the I-90 pass to stop in, right next to the popular Scott’s Dairy Freeze. Being a landmark for years, Scott’ also wanted to help, so he named a burger after them called “The Trail Burger”! 50% of the proceeds from The Trail Burger goes back to help support the youths.
*Picture courtesy of Trail Youth Coffee House*
Join Kristen at her next event on September 22nd, the ‘Community Closet’, at the Snoqualmie Fire House. She will be gathering gently used clothes from the community and opening it up for families in need to shop. If you’d like to be a volunteer for the Youth Coffee House, go to their website, or follow them on Facebook and see more ways to help.
Cheers,
Nicole
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS