Goodwill, YMCA team up to offer healthy menu at new GW2 Café in downtown Grand Rapids

You've had a great workout during your lunch hour and you'd like to grab a bite of something healthy to take back to the office.

The folks at the new GW2 Café in the David D. Hunting YMCA lobby (475 Lake Michigan Dr. NW) have just the thing: fresh sandwiches and wraps, fresh fruit, fruit smoothies, salads, coffee drinks and more -- all made with the health-conscious customer in mind.

Goodwill Industries and the YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids teamed up to remake an existing café into a convenient fueling-up spot for Y members and folks who just want to stop in for a bite. Goodwill, whose mission is to provide job training and placement for individuals with barriers to employment, will use the café as a final training ground for its hospitality services program.

"Last year, we trained about 30 people in hospitality services. The partnership with the Y will enable us to train above and beyond that number," says Goodwill's Communications Officer Jill Wallace. "They'll learn food prep, get certified in the ServSafe Food Handler Program and learn to work with customers, all at our kitchen on Sheldon (72 Sheldon Blvd. SE). They work their way up and then they can go out to the public training at our CrossTown Deli Café in The Rapid station and now at GW2 Café at the YMCA."

Proceeds from the café with help fund Goodwill's 20-plus job training programs, says Wallace. She adds that in 2010, Goodwill's job training programs placed 1,300 people in jobs throughout the eight counties the organization serves: Kent, Claire, Gladwin, Ionia, Isabella, Mecosta, Montcalm and Osceola.  

GW2 Café opened October 10. Hours of operation are 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Source: Jill Wallace, Goodwill Industries
Writer: Deborah Johnson Wood, Development News Editor