For more than 34 years, BJ’s Coffee Company has been part of the heart of Forest Grove.

BJ’s was founded in 1992 by Becky Jo and Ken Palmer after returning from Kona, Hawaii, with a love of coffee and a dream of creating a place where people could gather. Their son Nathan grew up in the coffee business and became BJ’s coffee roaster. Today, Nathan and his wife, Lindsay Jo, along with their four year old daughter Aili Jo, are carrying that family legacy forward.

BJ’s is more than a café to us. It is our family’s livelihood, the livelihood of our employees, and a place generations of customers have made part of their everyday lives. It has been the backdrop for first dates, morning routines, work meetings, friendships, celebrations, difficult conversations and countless cups of coffee shared between neighbors.

Now, for the first time in more than three decades, we do not know when we will be able to serve our community again.

Our longtime café recently experienced devastating flooding through no fault of our own. The damage requires extensive remediation and the removal of the majority of our counters, built-in fixtures and other property that is necessary to operate the café.

Although we did not cause this flooding, the terms of our lease place the responsibility for replacing our business property and rebuilding our tenant improvements largely on us. At the same time, we have lost the daily sales that support our employees, our family and the ordinary expenses of keeping BJ’s alive.

The timing could not be more difficult.

Before this happened, we had taken the biggest step of our lives by purchasing a building a few blocks west of our current café. That building was meant to become BJ’s permanent home. A place where our family business could finally have financial stability and continue serving Forest Grove for another generation.

We stretched ourselves financially to make that future possible. The income from our existing café was supposed to sustain our employees and help fund the transition into the new location. Instead, that income stopped overnight, and the resources intended for our future are now being pulled toward surviving the immediate crisis.

Many people have asked us to create this fundraiser. Asking for help in any way has always been incredibly difficult for us, but we have reached a point where we cannot recover from this loss alone.

Our initial goal is $75,000. Funds raised will be used to:

• Help cover payroll during the closure, and all necessary employment relief

• Replace damaged and removed counters, fixtures, equipment, smallwares and supplies

• Pay necessary rent, utilities, insurance and other expenses while we are unable to operate normally

• Cover moving, installation, permitting and construction expenses

• Help us pursue the fastest viable path toward reopening. Whether that means a temporary operation, partially restoring the existing café in the meantime once we are able, and accelerating work on BJ’s permanent new home. No matter what, we will figure out an option to serve you coffee as soon as possible.

Because demolition and damage assessments are still underway, we do not yet know the complete financial impact. We will try to share updates, estimates and major decisions as we receive them. Every donation, no matter the amount, helps give BJ’s a chance to survive this closure and welcome our community back.

If you are unable to donate, sharing this fundraiser is an equally meaningful way to help. Every share helps our story reach someone who may have visited BJ’s, loved our coffee or believes that longtime independent businesses are worth saving.

To everyone who has stopped at our counter, purchased our coffee, worked alongside us, shared a memory or made BJ’s part of your life: thank you.

We love this community. We love our employees. We love what BJ’s has meant to Forest Grove for more than three decades.

With your help, we hope this will not be the end of BJ’s Coffee Company's story but rather an extraordinarily difficult chapter before we open our doors again.

With all our gratitude,

Nathan and Lindsay Jo

BJ’s Coffee Company