While most drivers don’t notice the bedraggled faces of the homeless at traffic lights, the owners of Earth Cafe, Berea, Evert Minnie, 37, from Nahoon and John Smith, 44, from Quigney, welcome them into the restaurant as they would any other patron.
The Dispatch visited the restaurant and spoke to pensioner Graham Jones, 70, who had just finished his breakfast.
“I get a pension but after paying rent I’m left with only R200 for the month. I haven’t had hot porridge in ages; it was really nice.”
He then returned to Pearce Street to spend the day begging for small change.
“Earth Cafe is God-based, and our motto is to feed the poor and look after the unfortunate,” Smith said.
“God gave us a second chance and now we want to give others that chance as well.”
Throughout the six-day work week, those who cannot afford a meal are welcomed into the restaurant and offered porridge in the morning or a savoury lunch in the afternoon.
“Every day, even if we are full with normal customers, we sit a person from the street at a table to eat normally with dignity and respect.
“This is what I love about our clientele, they know what we are doing, so they don’t feel offended.”
Most of the cafe’s homeless patrons are substance abusers or the elderly living on the streets, but their efforts have transformed lives and helped addicts get clean.
Earth Cafe serves sustenance and compassion from the heart
Aim is to get homeless off the streets, get their health back, get jobs and reunite them with their families
Image: Theo Jeptha
While most drivers don’t notice the bedraggled faces of the homeless at traffic lights, the owners of Earth Cafe, Berea, Evert Minnie, 37, from Nahoon and John Smith, 44, from Quigney, welcome them into the restaurant as they would any other patron.
The Dispatch visited the restaurant and spoke to pensioner Graham Jones, 70, who had just finished his breakfast.
“I get a pension but after paying rent I’m left with only R200 for the month. I haven’t had hot porridge in ages; it was really nice.”
He then returned to Pearce Street to spend the day begging for small change.
“Earth Cafe is God-based, and our motto is to feed the poor and look after the unfortunate,” Smith said.
“God gave us a second chance and now we want to give others that chance as well.”
Throughout the six-day work week, those who cannot afford a meal are welcomed into the restaurant and offered porridge in the morning or a savoury lunch in the afternoon.
“Every day, even if we are full with normal customers, we sit a person from the street at a table to eat normally with dignity and respect.
“This is what I love about our clientele, they know what we are doing, so they don’t feel offended.”
Most of the cafe’s homeless patrons are substance abusers or the elderly living on the streets, but their efforts have transformed lives and helped addicts get clean.
Image: Theo Jeptha
Smith was welcomed into the business at the start of 2023.
He spent six months living on the streets, battling a 10-year drug addiction.
Now 17 months sober, he said: “Our aim is to look after the poor and make them feel worthy because if you keep pushing them down, they turn more to drugs and alcohol.
“We hope to get them off the streets, get their health back, get jobs and be reunited with their families.
“Lies and stealing are the biggest challenges. I’ve been dropped (attempted mugging) three times from the same people we feed.”
The cafe also organises clothing donations and blanket drives once a month with the help of the Christian Revival Church, Quigney.
Earth Cafe founder, Minnie, created the business with the aim of making a difference.
“The ultimate goal is to have our own land to open a home and get people clean and off the streets.
“Our new idea is to sit and talk to them, hear their story and get everyone together on a Wednesday afternoon for ministering and sharing.”
Smith is in Bloemfontein opening a new branch.
“The dream that God placed in my heart is to open many of these cafes all over the country.
“The only way is to have people invested in the company with all their hearts.
“I can’t open cafes and expect them to run the place if they don’t have a stake in the business.
“Anyone who works with us receives full training.
“I would rather have 1% in 100 businesses than 100% in one.”
While customers have celebrated and supported the initiative, Minnie said other business owners were more reserved.
“We’ve had landlords mention their concerns to us, but from our customers, we’ve only had support.”
Minnie was emotional when he recalled his past, as a former substance abuser he understood the trauma and pain of addiction.
“My dad was a gangster and was murdered in prison. As a teenager I did drugs, so I think that was the biggest driving point for me to reach out and help others.”
Both Smith and Minnie were overwhelmed by their Local Hero nomination, and have a portrait of last year’s winners hanging on the cafe wall beneath a Daily Dispatch article on the 2022 flagship store opening.
“It’s a great honour, when I saw the 12 winners from last year I thought ‘wow, this would be a dream come true’,” Minnie said.
Nominator Brian Francis, a Daily Dispatch Local Hero for 2021, said the Earth Cafe was a beacon of hope in the community.
“The work that Evert and the Earth Cafe are doing for the homeless and drug addicts deserves to be recognised.
“Not only is this a business, they are serving the larger community and looking at ways to rehabilitate and reintegrate them back into society.”
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