If you’ve been to Cafe Sol at any point recently, except for the lonely month of the third-wave pandemic, you may have noticed that we don’t have enough tables and chair for everyone.

We are fortunate enough to have loyal community members who don’t mind sitting on the stairs or the boundary wall outside the cafe as they play board games, practice music, and socialize. But since most of our revenue goes directly back into organizing free social activities and skill-building programs for the young community, we have been inordinately slow in correcting the seating problem.

A few days ago, a mysterious benefactor came out of nowhere, donating us 2 whole sets of outdoor furniture, complete with umbrellas, along with this beautiful letter:

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”In Cafe Sol, we have found such a friendly, vibrant space, which isn’t just a cafe or an activity center, but a welcoming community. It is amazing to have such a non-judgemental community in the area. Seems like our own little T2F.

I wish you guys all the success, although you don’t need luck.

This place is love.

I wanted to do something to contribute, and this seemed reasonable. I hope it has some value to you.”

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We…don’t have words.

Calling it a 'thoughtful’ gesture would be an understatement. Awwad and I were nearly in tears, because this is the kind of help we sorely needed.

I have blurred out the benefactor’s name for now, but I’d love to have their consent to make it public.

In the meantime, we will continue doing whatever we do here at Cafe Sol and iO to make ourselves worthy of this generosity from our community.

Thank you, friend! And know that you’ll always have a home here.