High schoolers run this local coffee shop

A sense of community is served alongside baked treats, simple eats and coffee-fueled creations at Firehouse Coffee Shop, a student-run effort in St. James, Missouri, that raises funds for nonprofit projects in the area and beyond.

While the students gain work experience – “When I was getting my first job, this looked really good on a resume,” says a student leader at the shop – they are not financially compensated for their effort. Instead, they get to help choose which nonprofit causes the shop’s profits support. Sometimes those are local needs; at others, they cross international lines. For example, one year students supported the leader of Ugandan orphanages by purchasing a small motorcycle and some goats.

And it’s all tied to the willingness of students – and a teacher named Terrill Story – to give back.

Since the shop’s start around 15 years ago, Story has been there nearly every day after school, working alongside the students, and for virtually no financial compensation.

“I’m just so humbled and honored,”  says Story, both the shop’s sponsor and an art teacher at the St. James district, of his work with the students. He notes that when folks complain about “kids today,” he has a few things to say: Primarily, they’re great.

“There have been years I’ve been panicked because I’m like, ‘What kids are going to volunteer?’” he says of the process through which kids apply, interview and are chosen to work at the shop. “But they do.”

The teacher, a product of a rural Missouri school system himself, didn’t intend to become an art teacher or even a coffee shop leader, but did feel a mission to help youth. First, he was a minister, and stepped in to serve the local school when two students were killed in a tragic accident years ago. That led to a teaching certification and the start of the coffee shop, located just across the street from the school, in a former fire station. 

Story says that location is crucial to making this work. The brick building is also cozy and welcoming, decorated with student art that can be seen from comfy vintage chairs, and filled with tables to gather around. Soon after the end of the school day, customers arrive – and they’re not just students, as the shop is open to the community. Multi-generational patrons sit at some tables; students studying (or visiting with friends) relax at others.

From his vantage point behind the coffee shop’s counter, Story can keep an eye on students. He listens when they need an ear, offering perspective and connection in a time of life that can feel especially challenging.

“I kind of feel like it’s been a mission or calling – my purpose all along – is to just encourage the youth,” Story says, also noting the shop’s role as a safe space for students between classes and after-school activities. “This is a hub, it’s a bridge, it’s a transitional space,” he adds.

Formally, the shop represents the local chapter of the Youth Empowerment Project, an effort led by the Community Foundation of the Ozarks to “instill tenets of philanthropy in high schools across the region.” But it goes deeper than the nonprofit mission in the community of fewer than 4,000 people.

The fact that it’s open to the public provides a sense of connection in the small town. On a recent afternoon, with the doors flung open to the welcome Spring breeze, everyone sang “Happy Birthday” to a new 10-year-old who came by for a birthday drink.

Like a good jolt of caffeine, the shop’s importance to the greater good has fueled its sense of mission. And that good leads to change, one life at a time, in ways that are seen far beyond the coffee shop’s walls.

“He’s been giving students opportunities to be the best person they can be for 15 years,” says another of the shop’s student leaders, of Story’s impact.

Those connections were once unexpected for the high school senior, who applied to work at the shop on Story’s suggestion. The experience led her to recently write a school speech about the impact of Story and the shop on her life.

“Working here has given me the opportunity to grow and learn new things, and not just practical skills,” she continues. “For me, I want to do something similar to what Terrill is doing – I want to build a community garden. Working here really struck a passion in me and made it feel possible to do that sort of thing.”

“This is a family to me. It’s a second home. He calls us a family at meetings … and for me, it’s very much true.”

Editor’s Note: This story was written by Kaitlyn McConnell and was originally published in Ozarks Alive!.