One of the inspirations for Middletown’s new Beans & Dreams coffee shop came while owner Joana Tsinonis and her family were on an annual trip to Greece. During a bustling Easter weekend at a city center, she spotted a young man with Down syndrome, independently making his way between shops and restaurants. At every location, someone would greet him affectionately and check to see where he was off to next. Joana noticed and reflected that this isn’t a common sight in the United States.
The Tsinonis’s own son, Nektarios, 24, also has Down syndrome, and a love for Greek coffee had often led him to dream out loud about owning his very own coffee shop. The family—who also own Middletown Greek restaurant Aleko’s—decided to take the leap to make not only Nektario’s but also other local young people’s dreams come true. They opened Beans & Dreams (Nektario’s Place) as a community café to further, in their words, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” for young adults with disabilities.
The café partners with Middletown High School’s Learning for Life program, and welcomes applications from other young adults with disabilities in the community, allowing them to work in a safe environment where they gain greater financial independence, valuable life skills and new friendships. The venture has already been a success to the point that a few “original” employees are stepping up to mentor newcomers, adding leadership development to the list of opportunities Beans & Dreams is providing. Additional “happy accident” wins have occurred, such as the pop-up stand in the café selling employee Cole’s curated boxes of sensory fidget toys. Joana looks forward to adding another young woman’s knit blankets, making Beans & Dreams a place where community members with disabilities can launch small businesses as well.
But of course, the café’s mission to provide special opportunities doesn’t put delicious food and coffee in the back seat. To introduce a new element to the local café scene, Beans & Dreams brews the family’s beloved Greek-style coffee, including the delectable freddo cappuccino, a slightly sweeter, chilled take on the traditional Italian drink. There are homemade Greek pastries, as well as fresh baked goods sourced from a baker with a disability in Hagerstown. Beans & Dreams makes a point of sourcing as many local and organic items as possible (down to the tableware, sourced from a local potter), as well as a varied gluten-free selection. Joana notes that it can be hard to find “fun” gluten-free desserts, so Beans & Dreams even stocks a few gluten-free specialty cakes. One of the few things from farther afield is the cheesecake; but it’s only the best, from a bakery in New York.
The café space is also unique and will offer even more to the community in the coming months. The building was the former Middletown trolley house, and has been renovated with original beams intact and a painting of the trolley prominent on the wall to commemorate its history. Beans & Dreams added a few vintage-style benches to the space to recreate some of the “trolley house” feel. Half of the café space, currently empty, awaits a community market which will be a pop-up location for a fresh flower shop and other local artisan goods. The café also plans to add a meeting space for business lunches and other small group events.
The best part about Beans & Dreams is that it’s only the beginning. There are plans underway, Joana says, to launch a nonprofit—the Nektarios Foundation—alongside the café, which will provide gift cards to employees and other community members with disabilities to be used at local restaurants, gyms and other hangouts. “If you think about people like Nektarios, you see them out when they’re children at school; but when they’re older, you don’t see them,” Joana says. Her vision, just as she saw with the young man in Greece, is to integrate those with disabilities into community life. Not only for the sake of their thriving, but to enrich the lives of everyone else. “When we see those with disabilities out and about,” she says, “we gain more understanding, and there are more opportunities to be kind.”
BeansAndDreamsCafe.com
