What was once Toomer’s Coffee has now become One Bike Coffee. The new owners have turned what was once a simple, small business into a way to give back to the community through charity organizations and efforts.
A family-owned nonprofit located on the corner of Moores Mill Road at Hamilton Place, One Bike Coffee is just a quick 10– minute drive from campus.
Townsend Kaak, a freshman in pre-business at Auburn and the daughter of One Bike’s owners, has been working at the coffee shop for two years since it opened in 2017.
“It’s very chill, but also really friendly,” Townsend said. “I love everyone that works there- it’s like a little family.”
In addition to the welcoming atmosphere, the owners of the shop have also decided to give a portion of their proceeds to a multiple sclerosis foundation, as one of the owners has MS, Kaak said.
“One Bike is actually nonprofit. Once we pay our employees every month and pay off all of our stock items, we give everything to our foundation. It’s a foundation for multiple sclerosis”.
In a separate interview, Mrs. Amy Fisher, one of the owners at One Bike, said that a trip with her husband to do the Galveston 7.3, which is a half iron man, is what sent them home with the idea of One Bike in their hearts. The trip was sponsored by Meat Fight, a group using barbecues to buy bikes from people with MS.
“When we left there to drive home, he (her husband) said, ‘I want to do something similar,’” she said. “We didn’t know what that looked like, and then the coffee shop came up for sale.”
The shop’s goal from the beginning was to put all the proceeds back into the community. This is done through several different avenues, the main one being the One Bike Foundation, whose primary goal is to buy bikes for people living in the state of Alabama that have multiple sclerosis, she said.
“For people that have MS, it’s important for them to keep moving, so that they can keep moving,” Fisher said. “In order to maintain their health, their number-one goal is to continually be active and exercising. The One Bike Foundation provides a means for people with multiple sclerosis to do that: a bike.”
One Bike Coffee shop has found other ways to give back to the community, aside from their nonprofit business. Just two weekends ago, Unity Wellness, an extension of East Alabama Medical Center focused on HIV Care and Counseling, hosted a race at Town Creek Park on World AIDS Awareness Day, where One Bike Coffee went and set up coffee for the participants.
In addition to donating their services to other organizations, the shop also offers a space for students looking for a quiet place to study or do homework, Fisher said.
“There’s a room that’s got a table that will seat eight and a dry erase board. We have a lot of groups that will sign up to study back there.”
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Emery Lay, junior in journalism, is a lifestyle writer at The Auburn Plainsman.
