Our Volunteer Coordinator, Natalia, recently visited Clay Café in Possilpark, Glasgow, to speak to the team there and shine a light on the incredible work of one volunteer in particular: Susan.
Natalia writes about her meeting with Susan, and the incredible blessing this space is for all those who walk through the doors…
The Clay Café (a partnership between Bethany and Clay Community Church) is a welcoming space at the heart of Possilpark, with great coffee, scrumptious homemade cakes and exceptionally beautiful food.
It offers a safe place to meet with new and old friends, it hosts community events, and it provides work placements and youth training programmes for people in the local community.
Susan, who is passionate about learning and growing, and loves Charles Rennie Mackintosh art, has been volunteering at Clay Café for 3.5 years. She first got involved because she wanted to learn barista skills.
During these 3.5 years, she has been involved in all the areas of the café, gaining a huge range of practical skills and growing in confidence. Her new goal is to continuing perfecting latte art!
“I feel really lucky to be part of the café.”
– Susan
Zoe Penman, Youth Placement Facilitator, says of Susan:
“Susan first joined us on a work placement and now has become a volunteer. Over the years, she has grown tremendously in both confidence and skill, learning how to use the barista machine and gaining various qualifications.
She is an essential part of the team that keeps the café running every Friday. Susan brings joy to everyone she meets — from our regulars to new visitors. She also helps support our new trainees, showing them how to take orders, use the barista machine, and build the same skills she has mastered.
Susan is a true asset to the Clay Café — dedicated, kind, and always ready with a smile. We are so blessed to have her as part of our team.”
“I have seen people come through the doors of the café a bit sore with what the world has thrown at them, and here they are welcome, and they have a chat with someone and receive some support. The biggest majority of them come back. We are so lucky to have the café. It’s what Possilpark needed.”
– Susan
After visiting the café, I kept thinking about the phrases, ‘we are so lucky’ and ‘we are so blessed.’ I was so moved by how this wee community café has brought so much goodness, life, welcome and love to Possilpark.
By connecting people to one another and loving, serving and valuing each other, the blessings abound for everyone: for all the volunteers and young people involved, for all the guests, for the Bethany Staff, for the neighbours, and for the community at large.