Phase 1: $5,000 from 200 donors in 14 days.

Fort Bliss nearly ended my life. Then Marylou gave me an idea — and building it saved me.

I'm Tony Sorensen, a 20-year U.S. Army Staff Sergeant. I'm diagnosed with PTSD from my deployments and what I've seen in the Army. In November 2023, I tried to end my life at Fort Bliss.

In treatment afterward, I met Marylou. I had this idea for a coffee shop — and she asked, "why don't we tie it in to mental health?" That one sentence turned a coffee shop into a mission. I asked her to build it with me.

Marylou is a single mother raising a 1-year-old, a Survivor of Military Sexual Trauma, and is currently walking her own path through family domestic violence. She knows what it means to need a safe place — because she's needed one.

That's what Coffee & Connections El Paso is: a trauma-informed community space for every El Pasoan that wants a safe place. For soldiers and veterans from Fort Bliss. For students at UTEP and EPCC. For anyone standing in that gap between isolation and crisis, where there's nowhere to go until it's an emergency. We're building the place we needed.

Coffee & Connections is the engine for Strong Bonds Resilience — our nonprofit arm (501(c)(3) in formation). The company is contractually designed to contribute 10% of its profits to Strong Bonds Resilience, after bills, payroll, and taxes — funding the programs that carry this mission beyond our walls.

Here's what your donation builds:

$100,000 — Foundation. Our equipment gets ordered ($42,861) and our lease gets signed. We're real.

$250,000 — The Space. Build-out begins: the Study Hall, the Gaming Arena, the Partner Suite — community zones designed around how people actually heal.

$500,000 — Doors Open. Staff hired and trained, peer programming launches. The doors open and the mission starts.

$750,000 — Runway. Full first-year operations funded. We don't just open — we stay open.

Every dollar goes to opening these doors. Every donor is proof to our lenders and partners that El Paso wants this — donor count matters as much as dollars here, so even $5 says something.

One thing you should know: Coffee & Connections El Paso is a for-profit, mission-driven company. Donations to this fundraiser are not tax-deductible.

Thank you for believing in this before the doors exist.

— Tony

Right now, the biggest challenge is simple: Tony is retiring from the Army soon, Marylou is a single mother raising a 1-year-old, and they do not have the funds needed to fully open the café. Support for this fundraiser will help Coffee & Connections El Paso sign the lease, order equipment, complete the build-out, hire and train staff, launch peer support programming, and fund the first year of operations so the space can serve the community from day one. They are asking for help to build the trauma-informed sanctuary they wish had existed for them: a safe place for veterans, survivors, students, and the wider El Paso community to land, breathe, and feel less alone. Donations of any size will help open the doors and also show future investors that El Paso truly needs this space. Please consider giving and sharing this fundraiser to help Coffee & Connections El Paso become a reality. Coffee & Connections El Paso is a for-profit, mission-driven company, and donations to this fundraiser are not tax-deductible.