Take 5 Cafe, South Berkeley CA

We are asking 300 friends and family to contribute $25 to support our business

Take 5 Cafe and Art Gallery is six months old! We are a family owned/Lesbian owned business in an undeserved neighborhood in Berkeley CA. Life partners Glynis Fairley and Karen Rosen and their 7 children have come together to start this project in their neighborhood. The Cafe was born out of a simple question Rosen and Fairley asked themselves one day. " Why is there no place to go in our neighborhood?" From that simple question grew Take 5 cafe. The partners signed a lease in February 1st 2013 and were not able to open till October 15th, 2013. The partners were turned down for all traditional loans but were thrilled to receive a $25,000 loan from Opportunity Fund. 
Take 5 Cafe and Gallery has been open for six months. There has been strong support from the South Berkeley Community as well as the Lesbian Community! One customer told the owners they waited " thirty years" for a Cafe in the neighborhood.


The focus of the Cafe/Gallery is to be part of the community and provide a gathering place and a meeting place for the neighborhood and the Lesbian Community. Several community groups are using the Cafe for their meetings and outreach is being done to local non-profits to offer free meeting space for community meetings.

The Gallery has work by both partners as well as local artists.

The focus of our fundraising is as follows:

* Improve our refrigerator system which is not large enough for our business

* Help folks find us!!!! We need to be more visible from the street by adding signage and lighting

* Provide additional lighting for the Gallery

The family is asking progressive mined folks to help keep this business stay alive and thrive so that South Berkeley and the Lesbian Community can finally have a place to call it's own.