The Snug Mug welcomes workers and customers with special needs

All right. There is a new coffee shop in Garden City, the Snug Mug. It is located on Middlebelt Road. It's between Warren and Maplewood near Garden City High School. It's not your ordinary coffee shop. The Snug Mug provides job opportunities for adults and students with needs, special needs. And co-founder Fatsen is here with Ollie and Ollie, both on the couch. We'll explain who everybody is here in a minute. Ollie's helping to put this together, which is special tomorrow this Ali is your son and thank you both thank you all three for being here today thank you so much for having us and you brought the goods too that looks my mouth is watering tell us about why you wanted to open uh this very special place so the reason why i wanted to open this coffee shop is because of my son because of this guy right here so uh my son was born with developmental delay and cognitive impairment that's not true well yeah you know what it's not true because um ali has different abilities than we do but i really feel like he dreams the same way as we all do and then by opening this coffee shop i was able you know to secure his future to have something for him and not just him but there are so many adults in our community you know that just need and wait for a chance to just, you know, shine, you know, be part of this society. And this is what we're trying to do at the Snug Mug. Fantastic. It's a beautiful idea. And what a great location to just looking at this video of your spot. So Ali, what is it? Have you been training or what is what is it like working there? It's good. Yeah. You like it? It's not easy making all those coffee orders either. You're not too old. How about you on TV? You're doing pretty good there too. I know. He's a pro now. He likes being a celebrity. I love it. Let's say hello to the other Ollie. You're doing something tomorrow. This is kind of a soft opening tomorrow. The grand opening is next week, but you are doing something special tomorrow. Tell us about that. Yeah, so when I saw this story on Instagram, I live down south in Tampa Bay, so this is always going to be home for me, Michigan. it touched me just like it touched all you guys when you saw it yeah so i reached out to Fitton and her son and said i'd like to do something with you guys for the community especially our special needs community so tomorrow we're going to be buying all the coffee and drinks baked goods we're going to have sensory friendly activities next door pumpkin painting more food and drinks next door pizza hot dogs and cookies cookies our homemade cookies we're We're gonna have three different raffles, giving away Pistons tickets, Lions tickets, some autographed memorabilia. I understand you have a couple of famous friends that have helped donate some stuff too, is that right? Yeah. You wanna draw some names? Mine as well. We have Paul Reed donate an autographed Pistons jersey, and we've just had support all the way around. Speaking of the support, talk about, because I know when you're the mother of a special needs child, Sometimes you feel like you constantly have to be on guard, right, protecting. And so how has the community reacted and how do you feel embraced? Let me tell you, when I first opened, when we decided to open the Snug Mug, it wasn't just about him. It was about me and about my husband, because when you have a when you have, you know, a child that is special needs, it's it's always it's always so hard. And it's it's like, how do I say that? It's like for me with Ali, I always wanted to protect him. OK, so and think about his future. Exactly. And then by opening the coffee shop, it's like I am putting him out there, you know. And you feel that the community is excited? The response of the community has been overwhelming. And not just that, I feel like I opened a place for parents that have adults, that have kids with special needs. And I know that when these parents are coming to my coffee shop, they don't have to worry about other people looking at them in a way where, you know, oh, your kid is being loud or your kid is running around. It's like, it's a safe place for them, you know. It's a place where they feel that they belong to. I want to say this too. the soft opening tomorrow. We're going to get all the information up at Fox2Detroit.com. I want to thank all three of you for being here today. You got up early for us, which is great. We're looking forward to it and absolutely great. We're going to be trying this stuff later. Oh, yeah. Are we allowed? Can we dig in? Of course. Of course. Please do. Thanks for being here, guys. Oh, and I got you more.