Coffee for a cause: New shop in Loring Park gives back to inner city youth soccer league with every pour

MINNEAPOLIS – Tucked away in a quiet alley behind Café Lurcat is a buzzing business.

Mary Haasl and Dustin Wahlquist live in the neighborhood and have become loyal customers of Fawkes Alley Coffee in their first week of being open.

“This is like our sixth time back,” Haasl said.

Their loyalty is not just because of the coffee, but the cause behind it.

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“[They] give an opportunity to give back to the community in like such a cool, creative way,” Wahlquist said.

It was an idea brewed up by Alex Heller to financially support a youth soccer league he’s involved with – Futsal Society (FS) – but also to revitalize an area that lost a lot of businesses during the pandemic.

“We need to bring life and we need to bring energy here and that was the idea,” Heller said.

With every cup sold, Fawkes Alley donates money to the Futsal Society.

“You’d recognize it as soccer, but it’s played on a smaller space, on a hard court, five on five versus 11 on 11,” said Caleb Crossley, one of FS’s founders.

To participate in FS is free for all, and coffee sales will continue to help make that possible.

“If we’re not charging kids, we have to be creative on how we’re generating revenue to support buying jerseys, renting field space, you know, paying coaches,” Crossley said.

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Of the more than 200 participating players in FS, 60% of them are first-generation immigrants.

Mohamad Ali just aged out of Futsal League as a high school graduate. Fawkes Alley Coffee hired him, something they hope to do for many more league alumni.

“I feel like it’s a really good way to transition…into the real world, you know, get a job,” Ali said. “Have some really good mentors, some really good people as my managers and stuff, and at the same time it’s good to also like be connected with my past.”

Fawkes Alley Coffee is open everyday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. It’s located at 1621 Harmon Place in Minneapolis.