Rise Up Cafe--the very special coffee and ice cream shop staffed by very special individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities--is departing the downtown area and taking off to a new destination, Sarasota Bradenton International Airport.

While Rise Up’s owner, Beaver Shriver, will miss the “Cheers” feel of the downtown coffee/ ice cream shop and seeing regular customers every day, he is excited for the move to the vibrant and bustling SRQ airport.

“I met with Rick Piccolo a few years before the airport expansion was announced to see if we could get a Rise Up Cafe foot in the door, as I’ve always thought that having a proper shop in an airport would be the perfect place for our team of people with disabilities to show their abilities to thousands of new customers who would be walking by every day,” says Shriver. “Once the SRQ expansion was announced, we joined with other local restaurants to be part of the new concession bid process and our group won the bid! We love our downtown Sarasota location, but we can’t afford to do both–we’re a small nonprofit–so we have to concentrate our efforts and money toward the one where our mission has the opportunity to spread far and wide.”

Sadly for the cafe’s customers, Rise Up closed their downtown location a few weeks ago and the new space won’t be ready until the airport expansion is complete in about a year. However, the good news on that front is that some of the employees have already been offered positions around town, which is one of the nonprofit’s main goals—to encourage and help other businesses hire people with disabilities.

“Our team members took the ‘we’re closing but we’re moving’ news pretty well,” says Shriver. “Those were some tough phone calls and meetings as most of our employees had never had a job before (and 80% of this population never get a job). They’re all missing the routine and paychecks but excited to get back to work soon in a fun, busy, new space.”

As of now, it looks like the cafe will be located in the new terminal with 5am opening -7pm closing, which means lots of jobs in 3-hour shifts and lots of time to share their mission. “In a way, we just want to be a regular coffee shop. It shouldn’t matter who’s taking your order or making your coffee, or what their disabilities/abilities may be. For now, though, we need to tell our story and wave the flag and share the mission with as many people as possible so that one day people like our team members can take their resume (just like you and me) and apply for the job that’s posted across the street,” shares Shriver. “We will miss the business folk meeting clients at the shop and locals introducing visiting friends to “their” favorite place in town but, we can’t wait to help end the fear of difference and replace it with the power of inclusion by having our team members let their abilities shine in front of millions of people every year. Time to FLY!”