DALLAS — As Jane Gow cut a red ribbon, it marked the beginning of a new chapter for her non-profit, BeKinder Coffee.
Gow, who started selling coffee and granola bars prepared in her home kitchen four years ago, dreamed of one day opening a coffee shop.
On Friday, the City of Dallas, friends, family and stakeholders celebrated the grand opening of BeKinder Coffee’s first coffee shop, located in an office building at 6500 Greenville Ave. in Dallas.
All of the profit from sales in the last four years has gone directly to helping newly-settled refugees in North Texas.
“I made it to the next milestone, but I know that there’s a lot more,” Gow said.
Gow, a refugee herself, fled Vietnam on a boat with her family during the fall of Saigon at the age of 13.
“People were not very happy with us because we lost the war," Gow said. "When we came here, there was a lot of anger and a lot of hatred toward us."
Her organization’s mission is to bring human compassion to refugees. She currently has four employees working in her coffee shop, which officially opens on Monday, Aug. 26.
All four of her paid employees are refugees. Three of them are from Afghanistan, and one of them is from Iraq.
Gow, who began selling her granola at farmers markets, has made it to Central Market.
The expansion of her non-profit will allow her to do more for the community. She plans to put earnings toward providing her employees with English classes. She’ll also start a college fund to help them pay for higher education.
“I want a message that people know that the refugees that come over here -- they will work hard, and it is a human right to be able to provide that for them,” Gow said. “I think we all should.”
One of her employees, Sodamba Mohammadi, expressed gratitude for Gow’s help. Mohammadi, who has been in the U.S. for six months, said she dreams of a career in computer science.
Mohammadi was forced to stop her college studies in Afghanistan after one semester.
“In our country, there’s not too much opportunity for women, for us,” Mohammadi said. “No peace. There was a war and for a woman, it’s too much. Every woman stays home, no education, can’t go outside like this.”
BeKinder Coffee’s company slogan is "Make Kindness Go Viral."
“I think it’s a calling for all of us to look around us and see the capacity that each one of us can take,” Gow said. “When you say be kind, it’s a statement, but when you say be kinder, it’s a process. It’s intentional, and it’s a daily practice. It’s something we have to ask ourselves every day. What is the value that we hold and how do we want to show up and make a conscious choice to practice that every day? To create that safe space for ourselves and for everyone around us.”
Gow hopes to open a second, larger coffee shop location in Dallas in the near future.