Reforging a life: Kid’s books, cookbooks, and coffee
In 2019, I went through an unexpected and shocking divorce. I ended up living in a homeless shelter for much of the year. I also bounced back and forth between voluntary inpatient treatment. It was a rough time for me, one without much by means of hope or optimism. During that time, the stress of the event caused my autoimmune diseases to flare-up and lead to the development of Polymyositis, a new autoimmune condition.
There was only one shelter in all of OKC that would let me stay. Because of the medications that I was on, I wasn’t permitted in most emergency shelters. I’d be forced to check my medicine at the door and there weren’t trained or qualified staff on hand if something went wrong with them. The only place that gave me a bed was the City Rescue Mission. I will always be deeply indebted to the folks there, and while this wasn’t my first experience with homelessness (that being when I was much younger, as a small child), it was a revelatory experience for me.
It was an apocalypse for me, in the truest of senses. During this time, I was diagnosed as Autistic. I was 38, and it was like seeing the world truly for the first time. I also had to look at my life and decide what I was going to do with it. I was blessed enough to find a friend who gave me a chance and let me have a room to rent with them, so once my immediate shelter and security were handled, I started to look onward.
My first mission was to start writing seriously. The experience motivated me towards writing for people like me: outcasts, pariahs, and the unseen. The maiden voyage of that venture was ALAN & FLANNERY THE FLAMINGO’S QUEST, a story about a boy named Alan, his pink-plaid stuffed flamingo named Flannery, and Mom as they face having to move to a homeless shelter with the power of imagination and stories of King Arthur. Homeless kids need to see themselves as heroes, like everyone. Perhaps, they need it more than everyone else.
My second mission was COLOR TASTE TEXTURE: COOKING FOR AUTISM AND FOOD AVERSION. I am a trained chef, but was never able to work in the industry because of the Food Aversions I’ve experienced all throughout my life. I was inspired to write a guide and cookbook to an philosophy of radical and enthusiastic acceptance to Food Aversion, in order to help nurture a better relationship with food in the long run. It would include techniques to modifying textures, color, and flavor to better accommodate the Food Averse.
My third mission is Upwardly Mobile Coffee. Operating a food truck isn’t something I had ever really considered before recently, when I had to accept that finding stable traditional income was going to be a challenge as a disabled Autist. But Upwardly is my chance to finally getting to work in an industry that had been denied to me, to setting my own schedules and working around my needs. I’m also a people person, in my own way, and I’ve been limited for so long in interactions with others.
It was then that I realized that Upwardly could also be my chance to give back. I created a business model that was highly adaptable and modular, scalable in every way. It would be an electric vehicle, and solar-powered. I would pay it forward: for every dozen donuts I sell, I’ll give a dozen to the homeless. It would have a minimal waste focus: I could culture and grow shiitake and oyster mushrooms in grow bags with the coffee grounds, and sell them direct to consumer or to restaurants, in a minimal footprint.
As a business with potential exponential growth, towards full commercial production of canned Nitro Cold Brew Coffee, a large scale mushroom farming venture, and the ability to add more trucks and employees, I realized that I could also hire first from the homeless and give them the same chance I had.
It all starts now, with your support. I’m working to raise $10,000 to get this venture off the ground (or on the ground?). If you follow this link, you’ll get to my GoFundMe page, which lists a little more in detail what the money will be spent on. I’ll be keeping everyone fully apprised of progress with regular updates.
Upwardly Mobile Coffee is more than a clever name, it’s an ethos of rising above and helping others along the way.
—Matthew Broberg-Moffitt
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