Today we’d like to introduce you to Kenny Sipes
Hi Kenny, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I think age is nothing but a number and I think the desire to be moving towards something greater at all times is the most important thing.
So, while many people, my age might be considering what it’ll take to get to retirement. I was looking for the next thing to do.
With that in mind having spent a few weeks over the years in the 2000’s and the 2010’s overseas and around our country seeing the needs of the world; and seeing how culture can create injustice; I got a desire to want to create something that people could mobilize around and have effect both locally and nationally.
For a long time I had kept a list of people that I called my dream team. All for a time when I wanted to create something that seemed bigger than possible, I wanted a list of people I would take with me. And as I entered a restless phase of life, and started to dream, I literally resigned my job without a plan and I then mobilized that team to help me hone in on what this could be
After meetings and lots of time together, we landed on creating a nonprofit coffeehouse built to fight the injustices of hunger, unclean, water, and human trafficking.
Columbus quickly embraced our vision when we opened what became The Roosevelt Coffeehouse in April 2015. We could’ve never dreamed how well it would be embraced and how much we would be able to do.
Going on 10 years, we now have two locations, a licensed location, and our own roastery. In those 9+ years over 1 million people have engaged our mission and over 76,000 people have been impacted and we’ve been able to donate over $230,000. It’s bigger than we ever dreamed, it’s everything we ever hoped, and it’s because of the way the city and the state embraced what we were doing from day one.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Of course, it has not always been smooth. Much of what we did we learned along the way. Everything from accounting, to legal issues, to commercial leases, to the craft of coffee itself, to raising funds to make it happen. The two years leading up to opening the doors were a mighty struggle. Then five years into it all, just as things seemed to finally be finding their own way, the pandemic hit. We still feel the effects of the pandemic, but we also feel like we’re getting on the other side of all of the ramifications of that now.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I hope in the end that my life shows that I specialize in connecting others for the common good. I am most proud of the way The Roosevelt has become an anchor in the City of Columbus for every demographic. The heart of what we do is love, justice, and coffee; and in the end if we love people well, create justice and make an incredible product that funds and unifies people to do these things then, we have accomplished our goals.
How do you define success?
Igniting hope into those around you.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.roosevelt.coffee and www.rooseveltcoffee.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therooseveltcoffeehouse/ and https://www.instagram.com/rooseveltcoffeeroasters/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/therooseveltcoffeehouse
