On August 18th, one of our SNAP Breakfast recipients in the middle of a mental health crisis kicked in our front door and shattered the glass. We reached out to you, our community, to help us fix it. In under 24 hours, 316 of you gave $10,021. You can see the original fundraising link here.
Below is a detailed report on how the money has been used.
What happened on August 18th
As we said above, someone who was having a mental health crisis kicked in the front door and the glass came down. No one was hurt.
We said it on the fundraiser page and we'll say it again here: we are not interested in punishing anyone for being in crisis. We were simply left with an entryway we couldn't lock and a repair bill we hadn't planned for. We then put up a fundraising page that same day with a $1,000 goal. Our best guess for a new door and glass was $500 to $1,000 - and damn, did we lowball it. We said every dollar would go to the door, and anything above that would go to other repairs around the shop. A lot of you already give to the SNAP Breakfast, and we know we ask a lot, so we asked for the smallest amount that would get the door fixed.
What you did in the next 24 hours
The page went live at 11:33 a.m. The first gift landed at 11:48. By 12:10 p.m., 37 minutes after we posted, you had passed the goal. We closed the campaign just shy of 24-hours.
The final count:
- $10,021 from 316 supporters, 1,002% of the goal
- Average gift $31.71. The smallest was $5, the largest $250.
- 146 gifts came from Oregon. The rest came from 32 other states, Washington, D.C., Canada, Germany, England and Australia.
A lot of you have never set foot in the shop. You found us on Threads, Facebook saw a news interview, etc...and you gave. A few of the messages that came with the gifts:
"Thank you for all you do and your forgiveness for humans having a hard time."
"Thanks for the reminder that you can both ask for help and rebuild."
"Please get tempered glass so no one gets hurt either accidentally or intentionally. You guys rock."
"Sorry I don't have much, I appreciate you." (from us here at Heretic, $5 is plenty. 💛)
The new door, and where every dollar is going
Two days after the break-in, on August 20th, we got a quote from Golden Craftsman LLC, a licensed and trusted Portland contractor, for a complete door and frame replacement. It's a metal door and frame with a full-height window, quarter-inch impact-resistant glass, a metal threshold, a door sweep, weather stripping, and painted black. he quote came to $5,940, with a 20% discount that brings it to $4,952.
To everyone who asked for stronger glass: that's the quarter-inch impact-resistant glass. We heard you. 🫡
The first of the other repairs is already done. On August 31st, the same contractor installed a through-the-wall air conditioner for the shop: the opening framed, metal flashing and trim outside to keep the weather out, every gap caulked and foamed, the inside trimmed and painted, and blocks under the unit to hold its weight. That came to $1,140 with the same 20% discount, so $912, paid in full.
|
|
Amount |
|---|---|
|
Raised on Givebutter, Aug 18–19 |
$10,021 |
|
New storefront door, Golden Craftsman LLC (quoted Aug 20) |
$4,952 |
|
Through-the-wall A/C install, Golden Craftsman LLC (paid Aug 31) |
$912 |
|
Left for other repairs around the shop |
$4,157 |
Thank you, and what's next
A $1,000 ask became a $10,021 answer in one day, because of all of you. Many of you have never been here, and some of you gave $5 with a note apologizing that it wasn't more. It was more than enough.
The door is for the folks who line up every morning for a free breakfast burrito and a latte, and for everyone who pays for theirs so that can keep happening. Thank you for keeping our doors open, and in this instance, we still mean that literally. :)
If you'd like to keep giving, the best place for a gift right now is our SNAP Breakfast Fund, which feeds people for free every single day. And if you have questions about any of the numbers above, reach out here.
We'll keep updating you as the door gets installed.
last updated: October 25th, 2026
