Sanctuary Coffee will close its locations in Honnold Mudd Library and on Foothill Boulevard at the end of the semester if they do not raise enough money by April, according to owner and Executive Director Dr. Steve Gerali.
Gerali, a clinical counselor, youth minister and former university professor and dean, attributed the organization’s financial struggles to an increase in rent and California minimum wage. In an email to TSL, however, The Claremont Colleges Services said Sanctuary has no plans to close their Honnold Mudd location.
The organization, filed as a faith-based non-profit founded in 2017, came to the Claremont Colleges in 2022, after it was selected from a pool of other cafes to fill an empty space in Honnold Mudd.
According to Gerali, Sanctuary donates 100 percent of their profits to charities and local causes, which are selected by an international board of directors. Most of these organizations are locally based, including Inland Valley Hope Partners and Ability First. Gerali did not provide a full list of organizations Sanctuary gives money to and partners with.
“Sanctuary Coffee has donated over a half million pounds of food to families in need just in east Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties,” Gerali said.
The idea for Sanctuary came from conversations among a group of young men Gerali was mentoring who wanted to “harness a greater good,” he said, explaining that mentorship and community-building are the organization’s guiding principles.
“That’s why it’s a shame if it goes away,” Gerali said. “Because we do more than just pump money into the community.”
Sanctuary’s mission is largely tied to Gerali’s over 45 years of work in mentorship. He serves as vice chairman of Rockside Ranch, an eight-month residential program for young men — a population he said is overlooked compared to young women in need. According to their website, the program helps students overcome crises and develop relationships with God and each other. 80 percent of graduates are employed today.
According to Sanctuary Manager and barista Seth Andrade, nearly all of the baristas are also mentored by Gerali. Some start as mentees and are hired later, while others begin their mentorship after being hired. Andrade said he applied without knowing that his little brother was in a mentor group with Gerali at the time. Andrade has now been at Sanctuary for just over a year and is also one of Steve’s mentees.
“It was like divine intervention,” Andrade said. “I almost felt like it was meant to be that Steve was in my life, just as he was impacting my brother’s.”
Gerali’s passion for mentorship has also taken form in several of his books including “Teenage Guys” and the six book series “What Do I Do When Teenagers,” which were published by Zondervan under the parent company of HarperCollins Christian Publishing.
“I started speaking and teaching and the stuff that I was doing was so novel that even my doctoral dissertation was a cutting edge dissertation because there was hardly any research available,” Gerali said. His dissertation was on identity and intimacy development in men.
Andrade, who is also a university student, said Gerali is the reason he has stayed at Sanctuary, despite not being highly paid. He said employees only make minimum wage in order to maximize profits for the organizations they provide for. With just one location on Foothill at the time, Sanctuary faced financial issues during the COVID-19 pandemic and struggled to pay their workers, but many volunteered to work for free.
“Our staff were more than happy to work for free because we believed in what Sanctuary offers and the morals and the practices behind it,” Andrade said.
Gerali also emphasized Sanctuary’s wide community reach, designating the organization and space as welcoming and non-political. Gerali said he was not comfortable labeling Sanctuary as LGBTQ+ friendly or affirming, as additional labels regarding identity or faith obstructs its open environment.
“And I’m not comfortable with the label of saying we’re conservative Christians either,” Gerali said. “Because when you put that label on someone or an organization, you alienate people. And we have worked for almost 10 years to not alienate people.”
Gerali added that although Sanctuary is filed as a faith-based non-profit, they welcome people of all religions and identities and embrace diversity.
“People need to be treated like people, people need to be loved and people need to be nurtured and develop,” he said.
Andrade, who identifies as gay and said he is not very religious, highlighted the important role Gerali and Sanctuary play in his life.
“[Gerali] will literally tell me ‘I love you, you’re like a son to me,’” Andrade said. “He’s like, ‘It does not matter what your past is,’ and he tells me continuously, ‘I’m happy that you’re here.’”
Andrade also praised Sanctuary’s professional environment in comparison to his prior jobs.
“I have nothing but love for Steve.” Andrade said. “This man is the best boss I’ve ever had in my life. I’ve worked 100 jobs and all of them I’ve left because of management … bosses weren’t treating me fairly, they were discriminating, things like that.”
Gerali and Andrade called for community support to help keep Sanctuary open and their mission alive.
“Sanctuary is about to go out of existence,” Gerali said. “We’re in terrible trouble right now.”
He hopes that people will make donations, especially on a monthly basis, to their fundraising campaign. He said they currently have about $1,000 in monthly pledges, but need to raise a total of $36,000 in extra revenue in order to keep both of their locations open.
“We don’t want to let this place go. We want to show support. We want to make this work,” Andrade said.
He said that both his work at Sanctuary and the organization at large goes far beyond the drinks they serve.
“It’s not just a cup of coffee,” Andrade said. “It’s so much more.”
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