Cafe with “pay-it-forward” initiative receives nearly $200K from student fundraiser
Ivy Table Café received word that it would be the fundraiser recipient
By Elle Meyers
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LIVINGSTON COUNTY, Michigan (WWJ) — A new breakfast and lunch spot in Livingston County, Michigan, encourages people to pay it forward. Recently, the shop received kindness payments through Howell High School’s Senior Survivor Fundraiser.
Ivy Table Café received word that it would be the fundraiser recipient, for which students raised nearly $200,000 for the charity.
“It was honestly with the help of my family and friends, just really the community bonding together,” said Howell senior John Curtin, who raised between $22,000 and $23,000.
Jessica Smokovitz, who co-owns Ivy Table Café, says the business is a “pay-what-you-can restaurant” staffed by volunteers. Tips left on a meal go toward providing someone else’s meal. Smokovitz began using the pay-it-forward model during the COVID pandemic to provide to-go meals out of a parking lot.
“If you pay a little bit extra, you’re helping to fund the meal of somebody who can’t,” she said. “Hunger is hidden here. It doesn’t look like it does on the streets of Detroit.”
Smokovitz said the space is designed to feel like any other restaurant.
“At any point in time, you can look around this room and you don’t know who’s here to be blessed and who’s here to be a blessing,” she said.
She said every cent of the money from the fundraiser will be used, from stocking local food pantries to paying for meals at Ivy Table and a little bit of building upkeep. She said the funding was incredible news.
“We consider ourselves this tiny little nothing of an organization, and to see that these kids wanted to buy into our vision and wanted to be a part of what we’re doing was really incredible,” she said.
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