Main Street is home to a community of many local businesses and storefronts filled with antiques, clothes and coffee. Geries Shaheen, owner of a local coffee stand called St. Charles Coffee Co., wanted to join that in a different way.

“Every now and again we collaborate with different people in the community and we set up a [coffee booth],” Shaheen said. “A couple years ago we did it at the old post office down the street and it was a hit so we decided to do it again this year with [local restaurant] Tompkins on Main.”

Shaheen sends part of his proceeds to charities and at his most recent event his money was sent to an organization called Sparrow’s Nest STL. They are a teen maternity home for  homeless, pregnant and parenting teen moms. It’s organizations like these that inspire Shaheen.

“All the time, we get surprises [donations] like the one Geries did,” Sparrow’s Nest director Elisa Zieg said. “We get surprised all the time with just this beautiful generosity for our own community.”

Geries began his business in 2017 as a hobby and has continued it since then. It started when he and his wife took a trip to his homeland of Israel. They saw many micro coffee shops and fell in love with the concept of a small menu which was the inspiration behind his establishment.

He offers one drink on the menu at each of his events and it comes as a latte or iced. In a recent event, Legends and Lanterns, it was a butterbeer latte, his most popular drink, inspired by the popular Harry Potter series. As to where to find him, he is always looking for inspiring venues and ways to collaborate with the community.

“A lot of places you go to you’ve got infinite choices,” Shaheen said. “It’s kind of a unique engagement.”