With Simon’s Coffee coming up on a month without a new home, one faithful regular has launched a fundraiser to help owner Simon Yu keep his family of employees when he does reopen.
Kathy Dalton, a program manager at the Cambridge Nonprofit Coalition, had called Simon’s home most mornings. She misses the employees and hopes helping them cover immediate expenses like food and rent will mean they will still be available to return when Simon’s re-opens.
Dalton also led a fundraiser for Simon’s baristas during the COVID-19 pandemic, raising over $8,000 to help them make ends meet while the shop was closed.
She noted that while the pandemic shutdown was longer, some employees received money from the government and through a separate fundraiser organized by the baristas themselves. “This time, it will just be whatever we raise plus their unemployment,” said Dalton.
Agustín Mayoral has worked at Simon’s for four years. “I just really love the people there, and it’s really special to be a part of peoples’ routines every day,” said Mayoral, who heaped praise on the regulars who have kept in contact with them and have now rallied around the baristas.
To Mayoral, “It really speaks to the special ‘community third space’ that Simon’s is, and it’s nice to see that as important as [the customers] are to us, we are to them.”
Mayoral said they missed seeing people in the shop. “We’re so embedded in the routine of it all that it’s kind of strange not to be,” they said.
The shop’s staff have stayed in touch. Mayoral relayed their “collective gratitude to the Simon’s community” through text message.
“We definitely felt that love, and it’s really sweet to hear that our regulars are still thinking about us,” Mayoral told Cambridge Day.
While unemployment payments are possible, it takes anywhere from several weeks to a month to receive unemployment benefits in Massachusetts after applying for them. Mayoral does not plan on leaving Simon’s.
Yu could not comment on the prospect of moving into the Dear Annie location at 1741 Mass Ave, but in a quote on the fundraiser page, he said the process is progressing slowly, while “going in the right direction.”
In addition to the fundraising page, people can support Simon’s staff through PayPal (simons.barista.tips@gmail.com), on Venmo (kd-latte), or they can reach out to Dalton to arrange Apple Pay or cash payments — she can be found most mornings at Mark Ostrow’s Café Zing, which Dalton now refers to as “Simon’s in Exile.”
“People are happy to support a local business,” she said about the temporary home the regulars now enjoy. “We’re happy to be supporting [Ostrow] in the meantime.”
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