Crown Center cafe seeks volunteers

Posted: Wednesday, February 11, 2015 4:00 pm
By Lois Caplan of the St. Louis Jewish Light

EXCITEMENT ABOUNDS at Crown Center for Senior Living, where the Circle@Crown Center Café will shortly open its doors to residents and eventually to the public. When I visited last week, I was amazed at how complete it is, with the most up-to-date furnishings and restaurant equipment. However, one significant element is missing (which you, my readers, can help with): The café needs volunteers — not the envelope-stuffing, hand-addressing usual kind of volunteer, but cashiers, hostesses, greeters and all kinds of restaurant helpers.

Jean Milner, the professional manager who will cook, plan menus, and generally supervise the operation of Circle@Crown Café, said volunteers will be trained for their roles at the café, which will serve breakfast and lunch to augment the weeknight dinners Crown Center already provides.

“We are not opening a restaurant,” notes Randi Schenberg, Crown Center’s Community Relations Director. “This is a program of Crown Center to meet the needs of the residents, who come first.”

The café menu will be “based on health and wellness,” with small portions and modest costs for the food, all of which will be available to go, Schenberg said.

Among the new amenities at Crown is a culinary kitchen where guest chefs and baristas can teach cooking, like cooking for one. Just as Crown Center has developed partnerships with organizations, such as OASIS and COCA, the Café is in partnership with Breadsmith for bakery goods and Kaldi’s for coffee and tea.

There is a new entrance to Circle@Crown Café. It is available to non-residents and is entered through the new patio where, in season, there will be tables and umbrellas. Even though it was a bitterly cold day when I visited, the patio looked attractive and inviting, and I could see a lot of you volunteers enjoying the sunshine after serving lunch.

Café hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. To become a Circle@Crown volunteer, call Schenberg at 314-991-2055.