By Riley Murphy, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Renewed Hope officially opened the doors to their brand-new thrift cafe, and this past Saturday, the community came out in full force to celebrate.

Renewed Hope is a registered non-profit that initially brought its efforts to Caledon in October through its mobile units and now has a physical space.

They welcomed the Caledon community to tour their new space and see all they have to offer.

At the new thrift cafe, you can shop the deals, enjoy their custom coffee blend and other treats, or see one of their numerous other services available.

At Renewed Hope's new location, there will also be a counselling office, located for entry on the Mill Street side of their building.

They have brought in Dr. Vidoll Regisford, a psychotherapy and counselling practitioner who has a background in clinical and leadership roles, for counselling.

Additionally, this new location marks the future of a community food pantry, which the Renewed Hope team says will launch soon.

As a registered non-profit charity, the thrift cafe says it will direct 75 per cent of all profits to local community initiatives.

Looking inside their new business, stacked with dozens of people, Tim from Renewed Hope said it was a surprise seeing so many people come out to support them.

Renewed Hope is volunteer-driven, and many of their volunteers were on site that day, either helping out with items for sale or behind the cafe counter, making sure the grand opening went smoothly.

“We worked hard at putting it all together, the team worked feverishly hard,” says Tim, looking back at their months of hard work.

He added more volunteers have been pouring in each week, eager to help.

“Everyone that comes by [says], ‘We needed this so much in our Town,'” he remarked.

Tim adds that with this physical location, they will not stop at the storefront.

“It goes on beyond that. It goes to our mobile mercy units, it goes on to our psychotherapists and counselors and social workers offices, it goes on to our food pantry. It goes further,” says Tim.

Now that their doors are officially open, Tim says what they're most looking forward to is the people; whether it's someone needing a dollar or two off their coffee or pastry, or scheduling an appointment with one of their counsellors, they want to be able to do that.

“The product is just something that we can do to lend to help people. It's about the people, not the product.”

Mayor Annette Groves and members of Council attended the grand opening to celebrate with the business, and even shopped around themselves.

“You can't beat the price,” laughed Mayor Groves.  “I'm very excited about this. This is something that was really desperately needed in the downtown core.”

She added that not only does this new space offer a place to sit and chat with friends and neighbours, what makes it unique is how they're helping the community.

Groves said many people and families are struggling today, and added she's heard from some older residents who live in the nearby seniors' apartment building that they're excited, especially since they can walk to it.

“It's really great to see that and to hear that, because it's nice for the seniors especially,” said Groves. “Really most of all, it's what they're doing to help those that are less fortunate…. It's something that we definitely needed, and it's really nice to see it finally coming to fruition.”

The celebration continued into the afternoon, with free hot dogs and a celebratory cake-cutting, which was truly the icing on the cake of the Saturday celebration.