By Brock Bowen
Have you ever wanted to help the community while having access to an all you can eat buffet mixed with fantastic company, great music, and karaoke? Try out a specialty night at Café Reyes located on Shrewsbury Street.
Their recent past events were a Paint Night fundraiser and a Cuban Night. The café holds events similar to this on Fridays every couple of weeks; the next will be Karaoke Night on March 18th from 5-7 p.m. Tickets for the event will be sold at the door, be sure not to miss out.
How it works to help the community is the event is a fundraiser where you pay $15 to get in and then that money helps House Reyes, which is a partner of Café Reyes as well as Enactus. House Reyes is a place where men who are looking to turn their lives around are given a chance at a better life. The program focuses on healthcare acquisition, literacy for ESL (English as a Second Language) Learners, and resume building.
One man I spoke to [who chose to remain anonymous] told me his story about how he found out about House Reyes. He was inside jail at the time and did not want to come back. One afternoon he was talking with his bunkmate about how he wanted a solution to stay out once he was out. His bunky told him about House Reyes.
At the time it sounded like a difficult program but this man wasn’t going to go back. He gave it a shot and was really inspired by how involved the staff is with helping these men. Now he is doing great and confident in his future. They help give certain skills and knowledge like how to open a bank account, teaching them working skills, and showing how to organize resumes.
Enactus is a club on Worcester State University’s campus and is also in 36 countries across the world. Their focus is to help entrepreneurs get active and change the lives of others with creative ideas. Tiffany Marquez, an active member explained that they do, “Community service projects in Worcester to help better the city economically, socially, and sustainably.”
Enactus played a role in networking and organization part of the specialty nights hosted at Café Reyes. A lot of the work Enactus does around the world goes to helping community projects similar to House Reyes. Enactus is a great way to help build your own resume and help out the community. If you want to get involved, they have meetings at Worcester State University at 4 p.m. on Tuesdays.
Dr. Mahoney explained how Enactus came to be involved with House Reyes and Café Reyes. About two years ago at an open meeting for House Reyes, the executive director Matilde Castie spoke to Dr. Mahoney and asked how they could help. Dr. Mahoney had students help with the organization and now the project is soaring. In fact one of the men who was on staff at Café Reyes for Paint Night was hired for another job by Cuban Night.
The combination of Enactus and House Reyes really shined on Café Reyes. The food and music really set the tone for how the night is going to go. There were a variety of options for different diets in vast quantities. The environment was so playful, that at one point during the Cuban Night a member of audience got up and started playing with the band on the piano while the other member switched to trumpet.
Café Reyes is an awesome for both specialty nights and their daytime café. Their menu boasts extravagant coffee and food selections, and generous service. Be sure to visit on Friday, March 18, 2016 for their Karaoke Night to have an absolute blast.
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