Mead's Corner forced to close its coffeehouse ministry
.jpg "Mead's Corner has been a downtown presence for a decade, but it will close after business on July 28.")
A decade after Mead's Corner opened to offer coffee and community to downtown Wichita, the ministry that First United Methodist Church started is ending.
"Everybody's really sad about this and heartbroken," says Cindy Watson, senior pastor.
Watson says there was a "significant increase" in rent.
"After long consideration and conversation, we decided not to renew the lease at the end of August," she says.
The last day in business will be July 28.
On July 29, a Sunday, there will be a celebration of the ministry.
"I know that lives have really been changed and transformed by our presence," Watson says.
Mead's, which is at the northwest corner of Douglas and Emporia, is a fair trade coffeehouse that has donated its thousands of dollars in tips through the years to charitable causes.
Watson says countless nonprofits, churches and groups have met there and even started there.
"Three churches have met in there and begun," she says.
ICT SOS started there and even had an office upstairs for a time.
"It was never just a business," Watson says.
There is a chance Mead's could reopen in another spot. Nothing has been decided one way or the other, Watson says.
For now, she says she has to focus on closing Mead's and pastoring her disappointed baristas and congregants.
"I mean, we're grieving it."
This story was originally published May 10, 2018 at 12:58 PM with the headline "Mead's Corner forced to close its coffeehouse ministry."