A Coffee House Employing Adults with Special Needs Opens in Roswell

RUMC Coffee House, a collaboration between Kennesaw’s Independent Grounds Cafe and Roswell United Methodist Church, opened earlier this week on Mimosa Boulevard in the city’s historic downtown. Like Independent Grounds, owned by Lorna Heid, the Roswell coffee shop primarily employs people in the community living with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

RUMC’s menu consists of a variety of coffee and espresso drinks and grab-and-go pastries. Light lunch fare is planned for the future. The shop offers seating inside and outside on the porch and at tables throughout the grounds.

As with her Kennesaw cafe, Heid hopes to showcase what inclusive employment opportunities look like for local businesses who employ adults with special needs.

“For many of our employees, this is their first job opportunity,” Heid says in a prepared statement. “So, to see them grow in confidence and develop their skills that they can then take anywhere is such a profound honor. All they need is to be given a chance to shine.”

She plans to continue expanding the Independent coffee shop model to other communities.

Heid opened Independent Grounds Cafe in Kennesaw’s Legacy Park community last March. Her 19-year-old daughter Emma serves as the inspiration for the coffee shop. She suffers from the effects of a traumatic brain injury after contracting meningitis just after she was born.

Monday - Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.

846 Mimosa Boulevard, Roswell. rumccoffeehouse.com.

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