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Volunteers transform eyesore into coffee house

Tom Fontaine - Times Staff

10/10/2005

Dan Heuer helps out at Uncommon Grounds

by waiting on customers and taking care of the

plants in the courtyard.

The Times / Kevin Lorenzi

ALIQUIPPA - Hundreds of volunteers and donors have transformed a former eyesore on Aliquippa's Franklin Avenue into a vibrant coffeehouse that looks as if it belongs in a college town or trendy big-city neighborhood.

After a four-year project to renovate the two-story building in the 300 block of Franklin Avenue, the coffeehouse, Uncommon Grounds, opened for business last month.

Many volunteers who took part in the renovation project, which was kept alive by donations of more than $200,000 in cash and supplies, had never before hammered a nail much less hung drywall or worked a power saw.

They ranged from church leaders and youth-group members to reforming drug addicts and ex-cons.

"The idea was to get ownership of this place as broadly based as possible," said John Stanley, an Australian missionary in the Episcopal-based Church Army USA who began spearheading the renovation shortly after he and his family moved to Aliquippa in 2001.

"When you help build something, it becomes a part of you and you feel a certain responsibility toward it," Stanley said.

Uncommon Grounds is intended to be more than just a place where you can get a cup of joe, a muffin or a panini, though.

Stanley said 20 people of various backgrounds have completed the coffeehouse's volunteer-training program, which teaches how to properly prepare a cappuccino and other menu items as well as "practical lessons that people can take out into their community," such as dealing with violence and aggression and drug and alcohol addiction.

Those who complete the program are expected to work at least two hours a week at the cafe.

The building's upstairs is still under renovation but will house an array of services when it is completed, including space for the ACE Women's Training Project, which also has a site in the 800 block of Franklin Avenue.

The program offers basic computer, creative writing, cooking, assertiveness and parenting courses.

The upstairs also will have a children's playroom, a kitchen, meeting space and private rooms for counseling sessions, Stanley said.

Downstairs, in the front of the coffeehouse, there is a stage with microphones, a guitar, drums and recording equipment that anyone can use.

Several musical acts performed on the stage during last month's Aliquippa Art, Music and Festival of Praise, which city officials said attracted at least 5,000 people over three days.

Tom Fontaine can be reached online at tfontaine@timesonline.com.