DeKalb County

Coffee shop that employs refugees in danger of closing

By Rikki Klaus
By Rikki Klaus

CLARKSTON, Ga. — A DeKalb County nonprofit coffee shop employs and mentors refugees and immigrants. Now, the nonprofit is asking for help from the community to keep its home.

The nonprofit told Channel 2's Rikki Klaus it recently got word about an eviction. The bank foreclosed on the property the Refuge Coffee Company has been renting in the heart of Clarkston for a very reasonable price.

Now, they're hoping people love their coffee and their mission enough to help save the space.

The bank foreclosed on the property the Refuge Coffee Company has been renting in the heart of Clarkston for a very reasonable price.

"We are not free. We run away from persecution. Here, I'm safe," teacher Leon Shonbana told Klaus.

Shonbana fled the war-torn country of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

"No freedom of speech. There's no freedom of association," Shonbana said.

Now he's living in Clarkston, and works at Refuge Coffee Company. The nonprofit mentors, employs and pays living wages to refugees and immigrants.

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"This training is very important for somebody who just arrived in America," Shonbana told Klaus.

Ahmad Alzoukani agrees. He left war-torn Syria, where his loved ones were killed.

"Many, but, like, we don't talk about that because it hurts," Alzoukani told Klaus.

He moved to Clarkston last September with no English skills, and started working at Refuge. He's found community in the coffee shop.

"I feel it's like my home. I don't want to miss it," Alzoukani said.

"It's in the dead center of what people have called the most diverse square mile in the world," founder Kitti Murray told Klaus.

Murray said she recently learned the bank foreclosed on the property. She's since found investors who are negotiating to buy the building.

If that happens, they'll have to pay significantly more money to rent the space and do upgrades.

To cover the costs, they've launched a campaign to raise $50,000. They're still short $7,000.

"It really is the only place in town that we've discovered that can handle what we need to do," Murray said.

Murray said the campaign goes until the end of the year, if you would like to donate.

Cox Media Group

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