09/20/2021
After three years of leading the team at Sanctuary Coffee, Jenn Young has concluded her time with us.
We hired Jenn in August 2018, when Sanctuary Coffee was only open a few hours a day and struggling to serve a decent cup of coffee. Three years later, thanks to Jenn's leadership, Sanctuary Coffee now offers a superb variety of coffee and tea drinks, savoury pastries, and perhaps the best housemade baking in downtown Calgary. Jenn also helped the cafe grow from a small, pop-up pilot operation to a permanently-installed, fully-equipped cafe and kitchen that meets AHS approval. Finally, Jenn guided us through the first three waves of the pandemic, helping Sanctuary Coffee pivot every time new regulations were enacted by the city or the provincial government.
These achievements are impressive, but it is Jenn's work with the staff and volunteers of Sanctuary Coffee that is her greatest legacy. Jenn equipped staff and volunteers to succeed in their roles. The Sanctuary Coffee team has consistently embodied the mission, vision, and values of the cafe, and served great coffee, and this is due to Jenn's leadership. Sanctuary Coffee is also proud of the fact that several of its volunteers have become paid baristas in the coffee industry, some of them working for Sanctuary Coffee, and this too is a result of Jenn's leadership.
Jenn will be missed at Sanctuary Coffee, but also remembered fondly for many years to come for helping it become the social enterprise it is today.