Help open our new German deli / restaurant

Ten years ago, Jayden, (then five) and I landed in South Bend. Desperate and exhausted after searching town after town in Pacific and Grays Harbor County, I stood at the desk of Joan King (Harbor Realty) It turned out that telling a mother who raised her kids through endless hardship that you have nothing but you are willing to work hard and that you need a safe place for your child was all it took. “I am really good at cutting hair, I’ve worked two jobs all my life, I don't smoke, drink, or do anything bad, and i’m looking for a little place to start my own business and maybe live there.” I said. I remember Joan nodding while i sat there knowing I was out of gas money to drive to another town. She reached for the phone and said “Just a minute.” Honestly I wouldn't have been surprised if she had called the cops. After a few minutes she got up and said “Come with me.” It was February 2008, cold, but the sun made the Willapa across the big square building that stood before us look beautiful. Joan greeted a little old purple haired lady with a smile. “This is Ruthie Jenkins.” She said to me. “Ruthie, this young lady wants to open a hair salon in our little town. “Oh, we do need that!” Ruthie replied as she unlocked the door to what was to become my “Just-A-Haircut” Shop. I stood there and thought “Oh my god, there is no way I can afford this, right on highway 101, and it even has water for a hair washing sink.” I asked Miss Jenkins if she’d allow me to do the painting and cleaning up, hoping I could start right away. I almost keeled over when she said “Well if you do that much work, I will give you first month’s rent free.” To take such a chance on a girl who walked in out of nowhere was god-sent to me. Speechless, I left both ladies with hugs and smiles. Finding a place to live in South Bend, however, proved to be a much harder task. The trailer park beside our local Ace Hardware Store had openings, but I still could not afford the rent. After agreeing to clean her vacant trailers at night in exchange for part of the rent, I secured us a place to live in walking distance to my barbershop in order to save gas money. I went to work immediately, and a few weeks later, I opened “Just-A-Haircut”. I was still cutting on commercial carpet, but I had my first own business in South Bend. Still working Fridays in Montesano as well as driving to Olympia every Sunday to pick up my son from his father’s weekends, I made three jobs working six days a week work out. Over time, I came to know the most wonderful customers, and Jayden slowly settled in to his school making new friends. Two years later I was able to let go of my job in Montesano, and the apartment above the shop became available. Being able to concentrate full-time on one job made business thrive even more. It was Christmas 2010 when customers started asking me if I could get my hands on some German goodies like chocolates, coffees, and meats. I remember pitching the idea to my mom and we both thought that this might be a cute little extra side job. My mom scraped up the first $500 to buy products and it all sold in two weeks. To say we were stunned is an understatement. At this time, the sweet Miss Jenkins was getting very sick. She passed away and her nephew Ron inherited the building. He thought selling German goods was a great idea and let me paint the little back room behind the barbershop bright red. Instead of cleaning trailers, my nights were now spent creating my first little German store room. I named it after my son, “Jayden’s German Store”. With lots of unknown obstacles, I barely managed to open it a few weeks before Christmas 2010. During the next two years I had to learn how to order products and find wholesalers so I wouldn't lose more money than I earned. I started making baskets for special occasions and taught myself how to advertise in the right places like Table Trivia, radio stations, and our Facebook page. I also spent five months on creating a website which failed miserably because I simply couldn’t split myself anymore. In 2013 the hearing-aid store beside the barbershop moved out, which enabled us to put the store directly on Highway 101. Except now, I was separated by a wall and had to go outside and around the building to enter the store. While this was a much better location for customers, it took another grueling three years to open the wall between both businesses. The store almost didn’t make it through the second small re-model. Finally, instead of commercial carpet, the new flooring was installed. By now it was 2016, and we were spilling over with products into the barbershop side which created the added challenge of a lot of extra cleaning. Our orders were huge, and I had almost six different suppliers. Still cutting hair full time and running the store simultaneously six days a week proved to be quite interesting. Having been asked for years if I will ever cook German food, I realized quickly that I would need more space, more people, and that would have to give up cutting hair. None of that made up a doable starting budget for a restaurant. At the time of 2016 - 2018 I used my profits to buy used equipment piece by piece and began the third remodel, this time to turn the original store room into a deli.To say it was a nightmare would be an understatement, from floor joists to ceiling beams, all of the electric and plumbing, and a year of sitting open with nothing complete in between was just not fun at all. All the while I was trying to make huge orders look cute and presentable and still cut hair full-time. It was the love and support of my customers and friends which fueled my determination to push through. So again it was barely before the Christmas holiday of 2018 that I redecorated and presented our new little deli room. I didn’t get to enjoy my two meat cooling cases for long though, when one of them broke down indefinitely the night before Christmas, so needless to say, I had to add a new cooling case to my budget. Luckily, Jayden’s old kindergarten teacher donated her entire kitchen! Mcmurray’s construction company sent their best man, Luis, who spent his Sundays to make the impossible happen. Our very own Bud’s Lumber electricians took hundreds of old wires out of the ceiling and walls and installed cool new lights and brand new outlets. Noah from Arc’s Plumbing went beyond the call of duty and made plumbing a thing of beauty. Mr. Jenkins, the building owner, who faithfully attends the store anytime I’m not around, pitched in with flooring and ordering money. Thankfully, with everybody’s haircut/shopping money I was able to pay 95% of the remodeling cost off. Yet, my hopes of being open for food service beginning January 2019 were crushed, as we are just now finishing the remodel and still have to pay for Insurance, Health Department fees, an unpaid $5,000 order, menus, advertisement, payroll setup, and all the extra food we need to order for serving. So here I am, asking again, for the love and support of my customers and friends of Jayden’s German Store to help us keep our doors open and make our deli dream become a reality. We would love to become a favorite hub for our locals as well as tourists to grab a bite to eat, enjoy family time, and shop locally. So we have created a GoFundMe page with the goal of raising $10,000 which will enable us to open for food service in July 2019. *Donations are also accepted directly into the Jayden's German Store account which is "R & J Enterprises" at the RFB (Raymond Federal Bank)