(upbeat music) The room is packed with people enjoying lunch, but this isn't a restaurant and everyone here is a volunteer.

- I volunteer a lot in soup kitchens and different places.

I'm like a professional volunteer, as I call it.

- [Jason] Erin Fox-Clough wears a lot of hats around the Mill Grove Church of Midland.

- Well, Erin is our praise leader here at the church.

- But we gonna praise the Lord first.

Everybody okay with that?

- [All] Yes!

- [Jason] From guitarist and singer to praise and worship leader, (musicians singing indistinctly) And she does it all with a servant's heart.

- Erin's been a godsend for our church.

The people here love her.

Her work, her music is great.

She's a great musician.

- [Jason] Erin is doing something not many people get the opportunity to do.

Combining her faith and passion with her quote, real job out at Abound Health where she facilitates day programs for adults with special needs.

- The need with my group is to learn job skills so they don't always have the opportunities, people to allow them to come in and learn these things they need to learn and give them a chance.

- [Jason] Then one day an idea popped into Erin's mind.

- So I was sitting at home and then I was like, okay, I work in this field, which I love this community and this church has such a big heart and I was like, and they have this facility and they want to do more outreach programs and I'm like, you know what I mean?

Why don't we just, I mean, it's a no brainer, it's like God already put the ingredients there.

We just kinda stirred it up to see what would happen.

- [Jason] Erin's idea, create a community cafe where Abound Health special needs adults work as cafe employees, setting up and serving lunch to church and community members.

- What can we offer this group, this adult special needs group that would encourage them, would allow them to come together and would also be an outreach for the church?

Because we see that we're providing a blessing to them, but what we experience when they come here is that they bless us.

- It gives our individual the opportunity to serve and learn a new skill set.

So that has been great for our individuals to actually experience hands on what to do and what to expect in case they ever get a job in the real world.

- [Jason] The cafe started just over a year ago, in March of 23.

It's open and free to the public on the third Thursday of each month.

- So I want them to improve upon their skills set that they have and be proud of it.

- Because it gives them self-esteem.

It gives them self respect.

- [Jason] On mornings, the cafe is open, Erin works with the group to get things in order, from unfolding tablecloths.

- Aaliyah, that's perfect.

That's exactly, exactly how we need it.

- [Jason] To dealing with centerpieces and name tags.

- All right, Tom, I'ma put this on you.

- Yeah.

- It's giving them a sense of pride that they need, just putting that apron on.

We don't have shirts yet, so we gotta get some shirts made, but just having an apron, that's the uniform, right now they got name tags.

So I'll have y'all outside the door.

Good morning.

Welcome to Mill Grove.

- [Jason] In the kitchen, another group of volunteers rolls the meatballs and gets everything ready for feeding everyone.

The cafe officially opens with a little music.

♪ Open the eyes of my heart Lord ♪ - [Jason] And words of encouragement from Mill Grove pastor, Steve Brown.

- And just try to give them something from God's word that would encourage their life, would tell them how special and unique they are, because that's what we believe, that God has created each person for something unique.

- [Jason] Then finally, it's time to eat.

Plates of homemade meatballs, rice, green beans and sweet rolls are served up to all in attendance.

- We actually prep the food on site and we allow them to be servers.

We allow them to pass out drinks.

They set up the tables and they also help clean up.

- We enjoy coming out.

We enjoy cooking, serving, and giving back to the community.

It's an excitement thing that we do every month.

- We have the ability to do something and you're being blessed.

It's great to bless someone else, you know, to be a blessing for someone else who can't always do what you're able to do.

- [Jason] The food is all donated, thanks in large part to longtime church member, Rick McManus.

- Rick has some cows and we found some other farmers who would raise cows and then was willing to donate that to charity, donate that to us.

- We found that farmers, local farmers that had cattle, they were looking ways to, how they could use their cattle for the Lord's work, so we kind of put it all together.

- It's just a beautiful thing of different people coming together and making this happen for the benefit of this community that is so very special.

- [Jason] The impact the community cafe has on the Abound Health special needs adults can't truly be measured, but it goes way beyond just serving a meal.

- It means so much to them, a lot of them.

They think of it as having a job, you know, even though they're not getting paid, but they do have a job and they serve us and it's just, it's a humbling experience for me.

- Just being able to talk to somebody new, that's a goal.

You know, that's a big deal.

- [Jason] The cafe is turning out to be a win for everyone involved, from the special needs adults, learning new skills to the church, doing more outreach.

- It's a situation where you go to try to help someone and they actually, by the end of the day, they've blessed you, they've helped, they've helped me.

I go home every time from this feeling better about myself, feeling better about the world, feeling better about mankind and what we're doing together.

- People that aren't around the adults with special needs community, they get to be introduced to this community and see how lovely they are, it's how capable they are when they come in.

- Hey Will.

- And at the end of the day, Erin is serving her purpose, - Oh, oh Lord, who are all those people?

It fills my heart, it really does and I feel like I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing when it all clicks like that and I feel like God's got a bigger plan behind it, you know?