Osseo Coffee Shop helps teachers return to school

Annabelle House, a local cafe in Osseo, gives back to its teachers by helping them “check off the list.”

Ashley and Mark Cook opened the store three years ago when they noticed that something was missing in the small town.

“When I opened this business, I thought, ‘This is going to be a cute little cafe. We’re going to have about eight customers a day, and it’s going to be great,'” Ashley Cook said. “Beyond that, it’s definitely exploded.”

A large part of the Cooks’ clientele are teachers – Mark Cook is one himself.

“It’s very humbling to see how people come to us and how great our need is,” Ashley said. “We really created this place for the community.”

Ashley Cook works with her staff in the kitchen at Annabelle House.

Now Ashley wants to get involved with the community that supports her business. Some teachers reached out to Annabelle House earlier this summer and asked the company to publish their classroom lists. Ashley decided to go even further and put out a call for more lists on Facebook.

She also asked people to nominate a Minnesota teacher in the comments.

“The response has been overwhelming, so we now have a lot of lists,” she said.

She posts a list every day. This gives teachers more exposure so people can donate to each list as they wish. Once she has posted everything for at least a week, she plans to share each list in another individual post.

Plus, two lucky teachers will receive $250 for their class. They’ll also get a little something for themselves – an Annabelle House gift card.

The Annabelle House shares an Amazon wish list like this one every day on its Facebook page.

“We know teachers need caffeine to keep going, so we’re giving away two gift cards,” she said.

For Ashley, it all comes down to giving back.

“We’ve been very fortunate to have some really great teachers who have really impacted our children’s lives,” she said. “To be able to do something small like this for them is very rewarding to me.”

It’s not too late to suggest someone or send Annabelle House your list. You can leave a comment on the shop’s Instagram or Facebook pages.

Osseo