Creating Community

SAME is a community that functions like a restaurant. Our goal is creating community. The restaurant and the food we make are the mechanisms we use to achieve this. 

"Connected people do good for themselves and the world, isolated people damage themselves and the world." - Brad Reubendale

By connecting people, we better our community at its roots. Again, we create this community around two tables: the prep table and the dining table.

Optional Video: Stories from SAME Community Members

Not Just a Hunger Relief Organization

We are not just a hunger relief organization; our goal is creating community. SAME is for everyone because we all need community, not just those who are experiencing food insecurity or homelessness.

Pictured: SAME Café pride shirts highlighting our three core objectives

SAME creates opportunities to eliminate the power dynamic that may exist between those with advantages and those without advantages. This work is done intentionally to dismantle the unfortunately common "us vs them" mentality that plagues our disadvantaged community members. SAME engages with all community members to meet the needs they feel (hunger), and provide the community we all need (human connection). Check out the video below for a highlight story from our Outreach Chef, Casey, on how he found community with SAME. See the (optional) video after that for some more stories from our team!

Non-Religious and Non-Political

SAME is not a religious organization and we are politically non-partisan. Instead, we encompass all belief spectra and welcome those from any background or belief system.

It is easy to either ignore differences or to use differences to divide people, but the reality is everyone is different in their belief systems. SAME is a place where people with very different belief systems can find their values reflected in what we do. For instance:

Community Partnerships: Agencies and Projects

The SAME community is not limited to those who participate in the Café. We partner with a number of other community-oriented agencies and projects to further our mission. Check out the video below to see some interviews with some of our partners ranging from farmers and gardeners to other mission-aligned community organizations!

Community Partnerships: Local Art

We want our community to be vibrant and beautiful! To accomplish this, we also celebrate local artists and do what we can to engage with community artists as much as possible. SAME Cafés feature local artists and participate i several art events throughout the year to empower these important members of our local community. Check out some highlights of these partnerships below.

Pictured: The Community Mural in SAME Café Denver by local artist Katie Vuletich

Pictured: Community Mural Project in commemoration of Bob Luna (long time Café guest) who passed away. Over 300 community members participated in this project and it measures 18ft by 5ft.

Community Partnerships: Youth Empowerment

SAME also works to empower young adults in our community to help them in finding careers of purpose. We do this through volunteer work, internships, and service member programs. Our partners come from local high schools, universities, houses of worship, the court system, and several servant/volunteer corps. Check out the video below to hear from two staff members of SAME Denver who came to us through our community partnerships.

Recognizing the Dignity of Each Guest

One of the most core concepts at SAME is to recognize the dignity of every person who comes into the Café. We do this by practicing 9 principles: 

1. Inviting people to join the community as a contributing member.

We refuse to tolerate aggravated or unsafe behavior–our expectation is that every guest contributes to the community in a kind, caring manner. Through upholding this standard, we allow everyone in our space to rise to a level we know they are capable of reaching.

2. Valuing everyone's participation equally.

Under the SAME Model, we never value money more than other forms of participation. Again, this is why we stress volunteering first and foremost. 

3. Providing the same experience for everyone.

We offer one healthy meal per day per guest. Each guest is invited to eat as much of the healthy food as they want as we offer seconds, thirds, fourths, and fifths of the soup and salad. Given our focus on healthy food, we offer one cookie and two slices of pizza per guest per day regardless of how they participate. 

4. No intake process—we are a restaurant. 

Guests are not required to share their name, income, or any other personal information to participate in the SAME community. We do not have a caseworker on staff as that pulls us away from our vision of one healthy meal per day per guest. No social workers are working in the space and no over-visual resources are being pushed on our guests. SAME Café is a café. We do capture demographic data through an optional annual restaurant-satisfaction-style survey which was developed carefully to respect the privacy and dignity of each guest. See more on these surveys in our Trauma-Informed Considerations lesson.

5. Offering delicious, culturally relevant, healthy food with choices. 

Choice is often a privilege that comes with money. Everyone deserves to have a sense of choice and we work to enable that process through our design. 

6. Changing the menu every day.

In order to maintain a sense of choice, we don’t make people choose from the same six items every day. Especially for our guests who use SAME as their primary (or only!) source of nutrition, we believe it is necessary to offer a variety of foods. Many guests give feedback that they experience excitement around trying the new foods each day on our menu that they may have never had before.

Here's some insight from Brad on how we try to incorporate choice down to every detail and why it is so important that we do that.

7. Accommodating guests’ food allergies and preferences. 

Since SAME is for everyone, we make sure our options fit most allergies and preferences by designing every menu for a range of diets and working individually with guests that need extra support. 

8. Paying a living wage and providing health insurance to all employees. 

This one is a no brainer! SAME reviews the local nonprofit salaries annually and works to be in the 50th percentile or higher for all staff positions, especially those on the lower end of the pay scale. Health, dental, and vision are covered at 80% for all employees working 25 hours or more.

9. Making every plate Instagrammable.

Beautiful food can be purchased for those with means, so we provide that feeling to everyone. The visuals and ingredients in every meal must be high quality. We often say we want every meal to be Instagrammable meaning that it is so beautiful you want to post a picture of it online. Check out some of our plates below.

Pictured: Example plates made at SAME Denver

See the video below for some more details on our white plates and the importance of a beautiful meal.