Editor’s note: This article is available in Spanish here.
After the pandemic, Front Porch, a faith based nonprofit coffee house, opened its doors to all students and is now full to the brim at all hours of the day. It is located off of Foothill Boulevard near the Health Center on campus.
Front Porch offers free coffee and espresso during the day and hosts other events such as a free meal on Wednesdays each week. It stays running through donations from local churches, community members and student volunteers, according to Front Porch intern Alana Krull.
“This has been the busiest year we’ve seen,” Krull said.
There can be anywhere between 500-600 people circulating in and out on one day.
Its roots
The land Front Porch sits on is owned by Presbytery of Santa Barbara and was bought in 1952, according to Krull.
Susan Updegrove, a member of the First Presbyterian church in downtown San Luis Obispo, began cooking meals for Front Porch’s Wednesday Night dinners back in 2004.
“It’s been an evolution from 25 people in a garage to the current ministry center with a coffee house, library and study rooms,” Updegrove said.
As Front Porch became more popular, the need for a newer and larger building became necessary. In 2011, construction for a new building was completed. The current building includes a game room with a pool table, a library, study spaces and a fully equipped kitchen. It can seat up to 125 people.
Opening doors to students
Theo Harpaz, an interdisciplinary studies sophomore, began going to Front Porch in the spring of 2023.
“My roommate told me about it and I didn’t believe him,” Harpaz said. A place on campus with free coffee and a place to study didn’t seem real to him.
He likes the Front Porch community because it’s friendly and welcoming.
“Everybody is [a volunteer], so everybody who’s there wants to be there and you can tell,” Harpaz said.
While Front Porch is a Christian-based organization, it opens its doors to everyone. Its mission is to “create an environment where college students can develop genuine relationships and experience life together through radical inclusivity.”
Executive director Joel Drenckpol has been in charge of the coffee house since 2013. When Drenckpol initially got the job, he remembered sitting in the main room watching the flood of students passing through.
“I wanted every single student that walked by to know they are welcomed in this space,” Drenckpol said.
A community of volunteers
Front Porch now has over 140 student volunteers. The volunteers each work for an hour preparing lattes and tea for students. Front Porch is open to all Cuesta and Cal Poly students. Alumni also often stop by to work remotely from the coffeehouse, according to Krull.
The volunteers’ responsibilities include serving drinks, brewing new coffee, taking out the trash and cleaning all 400 mugs.
“A lot of nonprofits struggle to find volunteers, but luckily for us we have a surplus,” Krull said.
Alongside normal hours for studying and socializing, Front Porch hosts other weekly events. These include Monday Card Making, Take a Walk Tuesdays, Wednesday Night Dinners, and Saturday Night Shared Space. They also host quarterly camping trips and monthly Open Mic Nights.
Tradition, trivia and togetherness
One of their most popular events and the one seeing the most growth is the Wednesday Night Dinners, according to Krull. This is where a meal is prepped and donated by a local church or community member for students.
The meals are free and provide students from both colleges the opportunity to gather and socialize. A trivia game is also included.
Updegrove prepares the same Nicaraguan recipe of rice and beans three times a year for these dinners. She has been volunteering for about 20 years.
Her bible study group helps her to pay for and prepare the meal in their church kitchen. They then bring it to Front Porch where they are greeted by the staff at the back door.
“They pretty much have the routine down,” Updegrove said. The staff quickly works together to reheat the food in the ovens and lay out the dishes in time for the dinner to begin at 6 p.m.
While Front Porch provides student volunteers at the dinners to serve the food, Updegrove still likes to be involved.
“I always like to serve because I want to see the students, [and] I want to have that chance to interact with them,” Updegrove said.
She loves meeting the volunteer staff and going over the trivia questions with them while serving.
“As long as I can do it I’m going to do it because I really love coming. I love being there and serving the students,” Updegrove said.
More recently, Front Porch has begun to host live music on Wednesdays to accompany the dinners. According to Krull, these have become of popular interest along with Front Porch’s Open Mic Night, as the last one had no seats left.
There are “people sitting on the floor or hanging out in the kitchen, just to get the opportunity to be in the space,” Krull said. “[People] can come in as themselves and there’s nothing expected back.”
