A Café that Welcomes All

I was recently in Michigan visiting my friend Cynthia Furlong Reynolds, and we had a great experience with a group of people who actively “give back”.

We met years ago at the university of southern Maine MFA program. We quickly found out that we were had an awful lot in common. We were both writers, of course, and we both had 2 sons. She’s also lucky enough to have a daughter. We are both in long-term marriages. We live in the Midwest, and we love British mystery shows and college football. And we’re both inveterate volunteers.

Over the years, I’ve visited with her and her very patient husband Mark, who is usually willing to rewatch Foyle’s War with us. We mostly write and cook and brainstorm during those weekends. But another activity is roaming around southern Michigan’s pretty villages and visiting antique shops. This spring, we went to the village of Brighton, where a group of good people have started a restaurant where everyone is welcomed regardless of ability to pay.

The Ivy Table is a new restaurant (2025) in an old tavern in Brighton, run by volunteers. Its founders came up with this plan when they were transferred to Thailand, and created a food distribution service there. When they returned to Michigan, they found the old tavern and renovated it with the help of many volunteers. They have served thousands of meals since on a “pay what you can” system.

The ethos of the restaurant is to make everyone feel valued. When we went up to the order desk, the hostess asked, “Would you like to be blessed with a meal today?” This was a discreet way to ask if we wanted to get the meal for free. All we would have to do is say “yes”, and nothing more would be said. (We chose to pay.) Those who chose the “blessed” meal would also be given a shopping list, where they could mark grocery items they needed for their home kitchens. As they dine, volunteers fill a bag with the selected items, and (again discreetly) set it down at the patron’s table.

While up to 40% of the meals are free, there is no distinction made in the dining room between those who paid and those who are “blessed”. The meals are served on china plates with cloth napkins. The menu is designed by a trained chef and is both down-home and upscale—spinach goat cheese quiche, asparagus brie soup, along with a sub sandwich and taco salad, much of the produce from the Ivy Table’s own gardens.

Most of all, there’s a great effort to make everybody feel completely comfortable and accepted.

Our waitress told us that in the town is a work training center, where young people come to learn trades. Some of them don’t have enough money to buy food, but they can come to the Ivy Table and have a couple meals during the course of the day, then go back to the motel with some extra groceries. The Ivy Table will even pay for transportation for those without a car.

Volunteers also stock “Food Fridges” around town. These store frozen meals from the same menu we had at the cafe. These give people in need access to healthy meals, and also help reduce food waste.

I was so impressed by the thoughtful and compassionate culture created by these volunteers. The managers are also willing to help groups in other communities start similar programs.

As their mission statement explains, “It is our mission to use food and biblical hospitality to build community, provide hope, and share love with those around us.  This type of servant-based hospitality involves loving those who may be different than we are.  It involves selflessly, generously, and joyfully giving to those who are hurting financially, physically, mentally, or spiritually.  It aims to make everyone feel seen, heard, and valued.”