By Dr. Alyssa Fisher, Director of Communications
“This is what it is to be an unconditional community member, we are supposed to take care of each other.”
Students at the 580 Café at UCLA want you to know that it’s more than a place to get a hot meal, box of groceries, or bag of pantry staples: it’s a place where a community is growing and meeting the needs of individuals who are traditionally excluded from the campus experience.
The 580 Café, led by Deaconess Jeanne Roe Smith and supported by a couple dozen interns and student volunteers, does provide food, and it might be what you know it for. This includes a food pantry, frozen meals that can be heated and eaten on site, community lunches, gift cards, a community garden, and a new produce box operation. As Roe Smith says, “food is a part of what we do, because it’s essential to our success,” and because it’s in great need for students at UCLA, including students who are undocumented, parents, international, or transfers. Organizers serve over 1,000 meals a month to students, and provide 200 food boxes monthly to families. But the café aims to meet other basic needs as well, including spiritual healing and community building – they’ve been working to end physical and spiritual hunger no matter who you are for 15 years.
Though officially formed in 2010, the 580 Café previously operated as the Wesley Foundation at UCLA, founded in 1928. They have a long history of spiritual and social justice ministry, including being a reconciling ministry since 1992. Roe Smith shares that the belief that “our spirituality and our faith tradition is something to enhance, not enforce,” is a guiding idea to their holistic approach in caring for their community at the university.
This holistic approach includes Healing Justice Movement sessions – music, art, yoga, and more offered weekly. A student-led initiative to create a garden on site offers the community the opportunity to grow food and also a space to disengage and reconnect with natural elements in the midst of busy schedules. Other spiritually nourishing opportunities include meditation, interfaith discussions, and kickboxing starting soon.
This effort is life-giving to those who call 580 a home. Students shared words like “safety,” “belonging,” “sanctuary,” and “unconditional” to describe their experience with the café, saying they were “welcomed with open arms.” In discussion with five students who are a part of the community, they emphasized that they’ve found a place to be supported and find connection. One student shared “When you are part of an institution as big as UCLA you can quickly become a shadow but the 580 has been a space where my soul and spirit belong and where I do not feel like a shadow,” while another said “At 580, these meals do more than alleviate physical and spiritual hunger; they bring people together in a safe, supportive environment. In this space, food is a powerful tool for community and care.”
The students wish others knew that “regardless of where you come from, or your background, you will always be welcome here, you will never be excluded.” A part of this welcome is also offering protection – as many of those involved are members of vulnerable and targeted groups, the café has a policy against sharing photos or identifying information of students who are involved in the ministry. This also means that everything at 580 Café, from the food to the reflection garden to their healing justice activities series is open to all, there are no needs-based or other requirements to take part, and you can just “be unapologetically yourself.”
When asked what they hope their ministry will motivate others to do, they shared a desire to inspire belonging and support in other communities, asking those reading to “be part of the healing in your community,” and “give into their communities without expecting something in return.”
580 Café is currently open Monday-Friday, 8:30 am – 5 pm, with some weekend and evening hours coming soon.
You can find out more and support the ministry through donation options on their website.
