Carmel Gabriel’s vision for The Banquet Table came from a burden, a need, and a dream. As a staff member of Young Life College Ministry at UTSA, she struggled to find a place for students to gather. “We had to rent classrooms, which is slightly lame to go back to the classroom after you’ve been in one all day. So it wasn’t the best place for ministry,” she explained.
She dreamed of opening up a coffeehouse that could be a gathering place for UTSA students. So she got to work, reaching out to older adults in the community for their wisdom and prayers. Just as she felt prepared to take the next steps to achieving her vision, she found out that a local food truck had plans to open a coffee shop right across from campus. While excited about the new space, she went to bed that night feeling discouraged and confused after feeling the call to open her own coffeehouse so strongly.
That same night, she had a dream in which she was walking through a large house, filled with a variety of rooms. Some rooms had desks, others had couches and chairs. Upstairs to the left was a long room with a single table that filled up the space. Looking through the doorway, she heard from God: “Things are going to change in my name, here at this school and in this city because of the gatherings that occur at this table, around my word and prayer.”
When she woke up, she shook her husband awake and told him all about it. And thus, The Banquet Table was born. She put together a board of directors and began the process of applying for 501c3 status.
As the organization has grown and developed, Carmel has held on to three things she knows to be true of the coffeehouse she will eventually open. “One was that it was not-for-profit, and that we really felt that it would first serve the community as a gathering place, so much like this [The Impact Guild],” she explains. “We wanted to highlight and honor one nonprofit a month,” by donating proceeds from the coffee to them and allowing them to use the house as a venue for the month. “And then we knew we didn’t want the house itself to be overtly Christian. We just wanted to serve [UTSA students] good coffee and be a house where they don’t immediately feel unwelcomed.” In keeping with the mission of the organization, the college students who work at the coffeehouse part-time would be part of a year-long discipleship program.
“That’s always been the structure,” Carmel says. But about two years ago, the board suggested that they could start working toward this mission before acquiring any property.
“What we do now is we actually do free coffee at UTSA, and we honor one nonprofit a month on campus and on social media,” she explains. “And then we host them at the end of the month on campus, in some kind of gathering that tells their story.”
They’ve hosted everything from an ASL-interpreted open mic night for Aid the Silent to a campus thrift shop for Revolution Thrift. She made her way to The Impact Guild through her connection to Revolution Thrift, when one of the organization’s board members suggested she sell coffee at The Impact Guild’s annual Good Market.
She found encouragement in The Impact Guild’s shared hope with The Banquet Table – “to serve as a gathering place.”
Since beginning her membership here in January, she’s already made connections with a nonprofit in the community. “Immediately I met Kayla, with For Her… April is actually Sexual Assault Awareness Month, so we’re honoring them in April at UTSA, and then we’re hosting a What Were You Wearing Museum,” she shares. “It’s to raise awareness against the stigma that somehow [being sexually assaulted] is your fault depending on what you were wearing or doing.”
As The Banquet Table continues to expand their programming, they’ve adopted a social enterprise model, selling coffee at weddings, markets, and other events to fund their mission and keep their gatherings accessible to UTSA students. You can find them on Facebook to caffeinate your next event!