What We’re Thankful For

November has arrived, and thus the opportunity to stop and take a moment to reflect on the things we are grateful for. Life is constantly changing and moving forward, whether we like it or not, and with it anxiety, depression, exhaustion, and pain are all possibilities. Being able to move through this life without feeling these struggles seems impossible at times, so forcing ourselves to sit down and accept the ups and downs of life and to transform them into thankfulness is necessary to not only survive but thrive in this world.

This past year has brought a lot of changes to Dignity Roasters, all of them could have been considered sad because we had good things going. But sitting here now and seeing the beauty that has unfolded, I’m glad we changed and grew in the ways that we did. So, in this blog, I (Ashley) am going to talk about a few of those big changes we experienced this year and why we are grateful for them.

Closing the Café

This change was one of the more significant ones we went through this year. Dignity Roasters is an initiative of Wear Gloves, a non-profit that aims to support and train the underserved in society, to help them earn what they need with dignity. This means that our roastery is located on a larger campus with a lot more moving parts going on. The need for Wear Gloves to have more space was growing, and the traffic to the café was not. So, the decision to close the café and turn part of it into an operations and client services office was made. The other half remains the roastery and is where the public can come to purchase their beans and pick up their subscriptions. We love being able to still provide folks with their coffee while also sharing the space with people who are serving a larger purpose. It keeps us grounded (pun intended) and keeps our eyes on what truly matters.

Retiring Shadrach

This year was the end of an era. Our original, trusty roaster, Shadrach, has been roasting faithfully for 7 years, but was starting to show his age. He was tired and was having trouble roasting our coffee to it’s fullest potential. So, Shadrach roasted his last roast back in February and was sent off to a farm up north. But out of his ashes rose Meshach, our new and improved roaster! Meshach is twice as large as Shadrach and is digital (oh, fancy).

Now that we are about 8 months past hooking up Meshach for the first time, this is an easy one to be grateful for right now. Meshach is working well, roasting delicious coffee, and is easy to use. Now, will this always be the case? Probably not. But we will continue to be thankful for this roaster and the opportunity it continues to give us.

Attending Roasting 101

After a couple of months of roasting on the new roaster, I was given the chance to travel to Minneapolis to attend a workshop to dive deeper into the mechanics of coffee roasting. This workshop, called Roasting 101, was held at Mill City Roasters, the company that made Meshach. Not only was getting to travel fun, but what I learned was incredible! I’m so thankful for that workshop and the amount of information they were able to fit into such a small time. They have clearly put a lot of work into making their workshops effective, and I’m so much better for their efforts.

My Coworkers

If you have worked in a job for any amount of time, you know that coworkers can either be your greatest source of joy and solidarity OR your greatest source of frustration. In my 40 years of life, I have experienced my fair share of frustrating people. I have worked in workplaces that micromanage everything, in workplaces where it seems that no one cares, and everything in between. This year, though, when I joined Dignity Roasters back in March, my coworkers here at have truly shown me what a supportive workplace actually looks like. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows all the time, but seeing the love and support that continues to pour out despite the ups and downs is inspiring. I’m so thankful for the example they set for me, to follow their light.

Here and Now

In my opinion, 2025 has been a banner year for Dignity Roasters. With the newer, larger roaster and the café closing, things are looking very different around here. We feel very close to something new and big, and while we don’t know what form it will take, but we are excited to embrace whatever may come. And while we can never predict the future, we do know one thing, that right now we have the support of the best subscribers in the world! When we think of the community of people who have embraced us from the beginning and continue to this day, we know that everything is going to be alright. To our supporters, THANK YOU!