Ambrosia for the Community

When Ambrosia By Caffrodite closed its doors on Main St. in Ventura on July 15, 2019, owner Christine Burke was not willing to sit still. She had an emerging vision to utilize the cafe as a shared community space. With the enthusiastic support of locals, Burke scheduled a meeting to take the first steps toward realizing this vision.

On a beautiful September morning, patrons and friends of the cafe came from around Ventura County to meet with Burke to discuss the idea of a community supported sustainable loop venture. The meeting was led by friend and organizational development consultant Cynthia King.

King began the meeting with a powerful quote from Starhawk’s Dreaming the Dark: “Community means strength that joins our strength to do the work that needs to be done. Arms to
hold us when we falter. A circle of healing. A circle of friends. Some place where we can be free.”

Sitting in the audience was a mix of nonprofit leaders, artists, scientists, and educators, all of whom had amazing ideas and backgrounds that will no doubt become an asset to the future of the
community space at the cafe. King cleverly worked groups through two separate activities that allowed the participants to not only work together, but to connect with one another. The activities involved brainstorming and sharing ideas for how to use a community space and then coming up with ideas for a mission statement for the space.

The ideas included art, education, cooking, music, gardening, and much more. The attendees were very clearly focused on a shared space that would be a safe place for the community to meet and to engage in meaningful and empowering activities that would enrich the lives and souls of the people.

Burke invites individuals from all over the county to come and participate in future meetings. 

The next meeting will be on October 5th, 2019 at 9:00am behind the cafe. If you are interested please email Christine Caffrodite at caffrodite@me.com.