Step inside Lighthouse Missions’ new business, offering coffee with a cause
A new coffee shop is opening in downtown Bellingham, offering jobs to those who may have difficulty finding work after years of homelessness and addiction.
Liminal Coffee is located on the bottom floor of Lighthouse Missions, and is part of the missions’ aim to help homeless neighbors through offering meals, shelter and recovery programs.
“Our big picture is helpings lives change, transformed holistically, not just having a place to live, but having a thriving life, with your family, in the workplace, your own sense of self awareness, in your own spiritual life. That’s our aim for people that are incredibly suffering places,” Hans Erchinger-Davis, president and CEO of the Lighthouse Mission, told The Bellingham Herald during a recent tour of the coffee shop.
The coffee shop was planned years ago as a way to provide jobs to residents who may have trouble finding work.
“One of the missing components, at least in our program and I think in the whole community, is that workplace development tier. And for people that have felony backgrounds or haven’t had a job for 10 years, and no work history, it’s hard to get a job,” Erchinger-Davis said. “To have a guaranteed job is a major incentive to finish their recovery.”
The program and job opportunities are designed to give people in recovery a sense of self-worth and dignity, according to Erchinger-Davis. “They’re thinking, ‘You know what, I’m not a victim who’s struggling to survive, I’m a citizen who has something to offer the world.’ And that’s really big for our folks.”
As residents go through the recovery program, they are provided with shelter and meals, as well as counseling, life-training skills, work therapy, daily schedules, spiritual formation and accountability, according to Justin Reeves, chief operating officer at Lighthouse Mission.
“Say one of their great goals is getting their families back. When you can show a recovery certificate, and you can show a wage-earning job to your family that you are so desperate to be reconnected with and accepted by, they see you’re doing the work. When you have that evidence of life change occurring, and that’s powerful stuff for people. So that’s our mission,” Erchinger-Davis said.
The coffee shop was planned for many years, and was built into the new shelter that opened in 2024.
“The idea for Liminal Coffee began taking shape in the Drop-In Center over 10 years ago, but it needed a space where the vision could be fully realized. That dream, for a long time, has been to create a shared community coffee shop that mixes the development and flourishing of Lighthouse Mission guests with the community and relationships that come about within common spaces like a coffee shop,” Reeves told The Bellingham Herald.
“The name Liminal comes from its Latin meaning, threshold, a place of transition. It reflects both the personal journeys of the individuals working there and the space itself: a place where people gather, connect and move toward something new,” Reeves said.
The coffee shop is the first of few job opportunities planned for residents at Lighthouse Missions, as the mission also looks at starting a donut shop and even a 3D printing business in the future that would provide more jobs for residents, according to Erchinger-Davis. Lighthouse Mission also partners with other local businesses to find jobs for residents in the community.
Liminal Coffee is also an effort to help the local neighborhood, to provide a safe space to get coffee, gather, and be a part of the community.
“We want to be excellent neighbors. We know the mission is good for the whole community, but I know that the immediate neighbors can get scared about the neighborhood. So what if we’re not just a really excellent coffee shop that you want to come to and hang out and get good coffee, but you know that the coffee you buy is supporting that person behind the counter, that’s a win-win,” Erchinger-Davis said. “That allows the sheltering work that we do to dovetail with the neighborhood and be having workplace development opportunities like this to really be an asset to the neighborhood too.”
All proceeds from Liminal Coffee goes directly back into the supporting workforce development at the coffee shop and Lighthouse Mission, according to a news release from the mission.
“The goal of Liminal Coffee is to create meaningful employment opportunities, foster personal growth, and build confidence for individuals transitioning out of recovery all while offering the wider community an excellent coffee shop experience. Great coffee supporting a great cause,” Reeves told The Herald.
The coffee shop has plenty of space for studying, meeting friends or working, and as a wide variety of menu items featuring coffee from Makeworth Coffee Roasters, pastries from Lamination Station, and breakfast burritos and sandwiches from Café Rumba, all Bellingham-based businesses.
The menu includes drip coffee, lattes, mochas, frappes, teas, hot chocolate, Lotus and a variety of flavored syrups.
A grand opening set for 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 14 and will include raffles for three gift baskets with merchandise, coffee and goodies, according to the news release.
Liminal Coffee will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday at 916 Holly St. in Bellingham.
This story was originally published February 7, 2026 at 3:19 PM.
