Just a few short years ago, life for Amanda Vellon, owner of Inclusion Coffee Shop in Elmer was very different.
The birth of a child with Down syndrome and a simultaneous change in careers dovetailed into something more than a job. She found her calling.
She was working in sales, in the corporate world. She said she had gone to college for business and always dreamed of eventually opening her own place.
“I knew I wanted to own my own restaurant one day,” Vellon said.
The idea of a coffee shop in particular wasn’t in her plan, but when Inclusion’s current location on Main Street became available, the idea began to take shape.
Vellon, who lives in Elmer, said the building had once housed a coffee shop and she felt the neighborhood could benefit from that kind of business in the location. She said she also came to feel it would make for a good trial run at her ultimate goal of restaurant ownership.
“It’s like a mini-version of owning a full-fledged restaurant,” she said. “It would kind of give me the idea of whether this is something I really like.”
At the time when they began to open the restaurant, Vellon said she already had a lot on her plate. She had just recently given birth to her son Rome, who along with Down syndrome, was born with a heart defect.
“He was not even a year old at the time,” Vellon said of her son. “In September (of that year) he had open-heart surgery, and in April, we were opening the coffee shop. It all happened very fast.”
Inclusion Coffee Shop has now been open in Elmer for just over three years. They’re open daily from Tuesday through Sunday and Vellon said they currently have 10 employees.
“It’s going great,” she said. “It is so rewarding. I say that I get to work with angels on Earth everyday. Everybody that works there, they’re just so grateful and happy and excited, and it’s genuine.”
Recently the shop has celebrated two new bits of news, which should serve to further their business and altruistic pursuits.
One announcement was about their addition of a new coffee cart, which can be used to offer the shop’s drinks and treats at off-site events.
Vellon said they had been getting many inquiries about working at occasions like weddings or bridal and baby showers, and the cart will provide a stylish way to bring a bit of Inclusion to those kinds of events.
The second announcement was about the creation of a separate nonprofit wing of Inclusion, which will allow for easier facilitation of grants and donations to help further fund employment opportunities that their small business can’t fully support.
Vellon said she noticed a need for nonprofit support over the course of the past year, as they’ve gotten more and more requests for employment opportunities.
“The nonprofit is open and our goal is to raise awareness and to receive some funding and donations from larger corporations, or anybody that has it in their heart to give, to be able to secure shifts for our employees,” she said.
Even with these two recent developments, it doesn’t seem like Vellon is ready to rest anytime soon. Expansion, she said, of both their physical footprint and overall mission, are what’s on the horizon for Inclusion.
“We’re definitely looking to grow – hopefully opening up a larger location in the next year or so,” Vellon said. “I feel like we should be all over. I think inclusive spaces like this should be in every city and every town. I think that’s how important it is.”