Friends, we can not even begin to put into words how you have smothered us in love over the last 48 hours! Emails, phone calls, text messages, comments on blogs, conversations on the street corner…you have literally engulfed us with love, encouragement and HOPE. Hope…that’s right HOPE, is the prevailing feeling today, even just 2 days after the fire that destroyed the Bean and neighboring 3 restaurants…isn’t that amazing! But here’s the thing, the Green Bean is so much more than the bricks and mortar of the building. It’s so much more than the quirky chandeliers, the chipped coffee mugs we served you your lattes in. It’s even more than the smiling faces of the baristas who met you each day with a smile. The Green Bean is more than all that…the heart of the Bean is community, it’s 1000 relationships formed over the years between us and you, and between one customer and another in the minutes and hours that you set up shop in our store. And these things can’t burn…they DIDN’T burn. In fact, they were alive and well on the street in front of the Bean even as we watched the fire burn shoulder to shoulder with friends like you. Love and community were THRIVING at the Neptune that morning as Dan gave us all a space to get out of the rain and cry together. Love and community were alive and well on the street corners as Jim Lustig from Upper Crust Catering and Verlin from Westminster Community Church gave hugs of support.
I haven’t cried a ton since the fire…but what moves me to tears are the moments when I realize that what we’ve worked to create at the Bean all these years is now being embodied and lived out by you all, all over Greenwood. THANK YOU for caring for us. And thank you for caring for each other. There are MANY businesses that have been just devastated by the events of Friday morning. Please keep the owners and employees of Pho Tic Tac, Szechuan Bistro and CC Teriyaki in your thoughts and prayers as they face the new realities of today. But also hug Stephen from the Hair Academy, Pam and Scott from Taproot, Shakir who operates an import clothing business from the underside of Romios and Amir at Romios as they do the hard work of cleaning up the mess that thousands and thousands of gallons of soot filled water have done to their businesses! We all have a lot of work ahead of us!
One way you can help us now is to let us know how to get ahold of you. We’re heartbroken at the thought of not getting to see you on your trips in to the Bean and we’d really like to be able to add you to our list of contacts so we can keep you posted via email on our plans…So, if you’d like to be added to our email list please scroll down and go to our ABOUT US page. At the top is a link to our EMAIL LIST.
We’ll keep you posted as we move ahead. No plans yet…
Summer and the rest of the Green Bean Staff.
