GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — A Bonduel coffee shop closed its doors for the morning this week, but it wasn’t because employees were taking the day off.
The Mill Coffee Shop owners Nicole and Keith Fischer brought their workers to Happily Ever After Animal Sanctuary in Green Bay for a morning of volunteering.
“Who doesn't like little dogs and cats?” Nicole Fischer said. “It's definitely good for morale.”
Fischer said the experience also gave employees a chance to spend time together outside their usual work environment.
“It's nice to see them out of their work element,” she said.
Happily Ever After Animal Sanctuary Director Marcus Reitz said the gesture stood out because The Mill closed its business so employees could participate.
“They actually closed their business to be here,” Reitz said.
Reitz said he had never before had a business offer its workers a chance to volunteer at the sanctuary in that way.
“Hearing the questions and seeing the smiles on their faces and the conversation that follows, there's a lot of really good things here happening to increase humanity's capacity,” Reitz said. “It's good to get to know your staff on a deeper level.”
For workers Erin Felhofer and Mary Margelovsky, the message to others was simple: Give volunteering a try.
“Come and volunteer,” Felhofer said.
“Yeah, if you can't adopt a dog or foster it, you can just come hang out with them,” Margelovsky added.
Margelovsky said she doesn't have pets of her own, making the opportunity to spend time with the animals especially meaningful.
“When I get to hang out with them, it's really nice,” she said.
The volunteers said the experience also gave them a chance to learn more than they expected about the sanctuary and its animals.
And for one volunteer's daughter, the morning may have planted the seed for an addition to the family.
When asked whether she might be able to take an animal home, Maren Novak had one in mind.
“I'm going to try to ask my dad for a cat,” Novak said.
And she already has her sales pitch ready.
“If I say it's supporting a small business, he's probably going to say yeah,” Novak said. “I really want one. They're so cute!”
The Mill Coffee Shop was only closed for the morning and planned to resume normal operations afterward.
