Talk:One World Cafe

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I am a former employee of One World Everybody Eats. On Friday, October 17th, I along with the entire One World crew, walked out the door never to return unless certain key issues were addressed by Denise and the board. One of the most important of these is that the organization is not a legal non-profit as it claims to be. Rather it is being run illegally and by taking advantage of its loyal patrons. When we addressed the board on this issue we found that they already knew about this problem, but did not care to do anything about it.

After our walk out on Friday, we have made many attempts to meet with both Denise and the board on the issues listed below and also provided in the attachment (this is the actual document that we, as a community of former One World employees, discussed and designed). All of our outreach attempts have been ignored. Because One World refuses to reorganize itself in a way that is true to the vision it has promised our community it would follow, we feel that we must expose such lies and broken promises to the community One World claims to support.

To the One World Board:

Love and peace to you from the unified voice of the One World Staff. We would like to preface our list of grievances by approaching you with open minds and hearts. We would most importantly like you to understand that these do not stem from bitterness, but from sincere concerns for the well-being of the Vision we have all been a part of. It has indeed been a great vision, accompanied by loving people and a growing sense of community.

Despite the great things we have witnessed at One World, there have been persistent grievances we would like to make clear to you. We are presenting them to you as a unified staff with love for the vision and for the individuals as well:

• We would first off like to reiterate our love for One World and the vision it promotes. Without it, we would have left the restaurant when our checks did not cash months ago.

• The overall mission of One World states that its vision is to promote trust in the community and that we are a trust-based organization. We have not seen or felt the trust extended to the employees of the restaurant by the board; in return, the employees feel they cannot trust the board.

• Involvement in the kitchen with Denise especially is suspect to us. She has not been present these past months, and is gearing to leave us again in this time of crisis. Her actions and decisions have been portrayed as those of a qualified leader, yet her absence does not communicate those qualifications to us as a staff.

In conversations with Denise we have felt that there is no open dialogue or no room to respond to accusations or suspicions voiced.

We feel Denise especially is demeaning and disrespectful in the way she addresses employees, even while engaging with customers. She has interrupted conversations and interactions with caring patrons to berate at times overwhelmed staff members on less than pressing matters.

We also feel there has not been trust invested in the employees to care about the survival of the restaurant and act in such a manner. There has been unreasonable criticism and demeaning attitudes toward hard-working employees making sacrifices for the survival of the vision.

• We feel the organization of the foundation is not transparent. The actions and even membership of the board has not been clearly communicated. As well, any legal questions or concerns we have had have been circumvented or answered without sound backing, or have not even been validated with appropriate levels of response.

• We have felt manipulated and been given unrealistic expectations outside of job descriptions, training, or monetary compensation. Even the unpaid volunteers and at times employees are held to unattainable, harsh or uncompassionate expectations.

• We feel that discrimination has been practiced against members of the community we are committed to promoting. People who have supported the One World from its onset and people who have given of their time and love in an unreciprocated manner.

• We feel attempts made by the board, without consultation of the staff, to stop the downward progression of the restaurant have back-fired and in fact acted as a catalyst to its demise.

• We feel the recent changes implemented have been made based upon purely financial reasoning at the expense of the core principles of the vision to which the current staff is dedicated. We feel the reversal of such priorities is something we cannot support.