By: Gavin Schweiger, Follow South Jersey Assistant Editor
ELMER, NJ — Inclusion Coffee Shop is expanding by opening a new location in the Vineland Public Library.
Amanda Vellon runs the café with the goal to hire adults with disabilities like autism or Down syndrome, and to create a welcoming space for visitors regardless of ability.
The café opened in 2022, but the story starts less than a year before with Vellon’s child, Rome. Rome has Down syndrome and needed open heart surgery at four months old.
“It was an emotional roller coaster. And we were met with multiple people that made us feel like our life was kind of over because of the situation,” Vellon said.
She didn’t feel the same way. Instead, she wanted to celebrate her child and his journey, so she took to social media advocacy
Vellon would find another opportunity, however.
There was a property up for rent that used to be Elmer’s only coffee shop. Since it closed, Vellon and her husband thought to put a café back in the town. Vellon then decided to go bigger and mix her advocacy with the shop, creating a “coffee shop with a mission.”
“This is going to be the way that I can celebrate our differences, share it with the world, but also be a space where people can come in and have actual conversations with a mom who understands exactly what they’re going through,” Vellon said. “So, being met with such a scary diagnosis, I knew immediately that I wanted to be the one to spread some light on this journey.”
Today, the shop has 11 employees. Vellon works to help them learn life skills and business through working in the shop but also says that it’s fun to work with them.
“It’s something I never thought about in the beginning but getting to know my staff that have literally become like my family,” Vellon said. “I love and adore every single person that works here.”
Robert Eldridge is one of Vellon’s employees. He started working in the shop in 2023.
“I think it’s cool and amazing, and every Tuesday I work for a living, you know,” Eldridge said.
He enjoys socializing with the customers and other employees and likes thinking about the business and helping to run it.
Many customers also find the shop and its mission admirable.
“I’ve seen this place grow from day one. Amanda has passion,” said John Alexander, a regular customer. “All we need to get her is the funding. She’ll take care of the rest.”
The coffee shop became a staple of Elmer. It ended up having too many applicants and the payroll was hitting “a brick wall.” After talking with other non-profit owners, Vellon created a non-profit from the café to involve the community and open the potential for grants and donations.
Cruz Gomez, a city councilman from Vineland, approached Vellon asking to meet with Mayor Anthony Fanucci, who brought her the idea to make another location in the library.
The new location is bigger, with room for seating outside of the café.
Inside will include amenities such as a sensory wall, where items like noise-cancelling headphones and fidget toys would be offered to meet visitors’ needs. When it opens, Inclusion Coffee Shop will seek to hire more employees with disabilities to run the location.
“Like what better way to spread inclusion even more than in a library, right? Where it’s already so inclusive,” Vellon said.
The Vineland location is currently under construction, but close to completion. There is no official opening date yet, but Vellon hopes it will be by early February this year.
In the future, Vellon would also like to add a day program for those with disabilities to have more opportunities. But for now, she’s happy with the progress she’s made, and that Inclusion Coffee Shop can be a space for people of any ability to come together.
“I want them to leave with knowing that whatever your differences, that is what makes you absolutely beautiful and valuable to the world. I want them leaving with their heart filled so much that they can’t wait to come back here because they have just got the most incredible feeling from being served by our incredible staff from experiencing such kindness,” Vellon said. “I want the world to know that this is just a normal coffee shop doing incredible things.”
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