About Cedar Creek Coffee
Special blends made by special hands | Branson, MOEmploying adults with special needs.
a message from us
who we are
At Cedar Creek Coffee, we strongly believe that every person has great value—each offering unique talents to make our world a distinctly better place. Some of our workers are young, some older, some have disabilities and some do not. All of the people who roast your coffee are special in their own way, including several who have unique challenges based on the disabilities they have. We incorporate all the gifts of the people who work for us to produce our unique “special blends made by special hands.”
Every person has exceptional value of some kind. Everyone is important—especially you, and that’s why we make our specialty coffee the way we do. From all of us, thank you for purchasing Cedar Creek Coffee.
about the founders
After graduating from Southeastern University with a Bachelor in Biblical Studies, I wanted to go into the ministry to help people. I was primarily seeking a position in a church when a friend of ours told us about a new program she thought we might be interested in. The Department of Mental Health was starting a project for people who have mental and behavioral disabilities.
My wife and I decided to explore this further. After a series of meetings, I knew this was the direction I was supposed to go. God loves and desires the best for everyone, and this allowed me to spread the Gospel outside the walls of a church building.
In 1996, we added an awesome 18-year-old to our family of four biological sons (all under 10 at the time). After a couple of years, we added two more foster sons to our family. In 2005, we were asked to open another home for older individuals. We have added homes or expanded services every year since.
Today we have ten homes and are endeavoring to help 27 very special individuals have the best home life they can. We also have a staff of over 50, very special individuals who are all invaluable to the life and love that all of our special family members receive.
No matter who you are, what race you are, how old you are or whether you have a disability or not, you have great value and something to offer this world to make it a better place.
Working with those with special needs, we’ve seen how difficult it can be for them to find and maintain employment. Many employers are not equipped or willing to affect their profit margin by allowing slower production or some added special allocations for those with special needs. So to help those with disabilities prepare to have community employment and acquire a sense of self-worth, we created Cedar Creek Coffee and Cedar Creek Ceramics, offering specialty coffee, hand-made coffee cups and other tableware items. These companies allow our very special individuals to develop work skills that will better their lives in the future.
To help someone achieve a high level of self-worth is one of the greatest gifts that can ever be given. When you purchase and enjoy any of our products, you are giving a sense of purpose to our special family members who hand roast each batch of coffee and hand make every coffee cup we offer. And you help us continue to assist this special group of people, giving them a better quality and more meaningful life.