Spending every day at home and barely getting out of the house because of the amount of homework is the reality for many students in the area. That helped create the idea of a socially distanced cafe, called the Fused Cafe, with the help from her Divine Unity youth pastor and her friend Kacie Boone, junior Alexis Moats set up shop in order to combat the amount of free time she had. 

“Gianne Harper saw a need in the community and was wondering how to supplement the issues arising with online schooling. He came up with the idea and bounced ideas with [us] and a few others,” Moats said. 

They decided to start the cafe to help cure the boredom of students and open up more options to students in need.

“The cafe was started to open up opportunities for kids who were growing tired of schooling stagnantly in their homes and needed a new space to work. All high schoolers from the area, not just Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, can come,” Moats said. 

The cafe is located at 1680 Country Club Road, Divine Unity Community Church, but has limited hours and is only open on Wednesday.

“We offer free WiFi, coffee and tea to students. The cafe is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesdays as of right now. It’s funded through offerings of the church,” Moats said.

Throughout the time the cafe has been open, they have been able to keep social distancing between students because of the size of their room. 

“Around five to ten students attend on average right now, which is nice with social distancing protocol. The space is two 25x25ft rooms with a large hallway in between. It’s quite large and allows room to distance,” Moats said.