Five years of serving Manhattan calls for more than a pot of coffee — it calls for a week of bringing the town together. From Oct. 11-17, Flight Crew Coffee is partnering with Bond Grief Collective, a grief recovery practice, for their new “Community Week,” a weeklong celebration packed with meaningful conversations connecting community members throughout the Little Apple.
While working with his team, James Weber, general manager of Flight Crew Coffee, found that this week would be an incredible way to celebrate their fifth anniversary along with giving back to the community.
“There are only two events that week, the first being the Grief Talks on Oct. 10 at 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., and the other being that we are having Trooper Ben come in and talk about and sign his book and have conversations for the majority of Friday afternoon,” Weber said. “A big draw for us with Trooper Ben was that it helps to show the connection between a community and the people that help to protect it.”
Trooper Ben is a retired veteran of the Kansas Highway Patrol, a U.S. Army veteran, public speaker and author. Throughout his career and daily life, bringing people together has been his main goal. The focus on fostering connection across the community also drove the collaboration behind the week’s programming.
“The decision to team with the Bond Grief Collective was due to the fact that everyone is going through something and sometimes just having the space to see that you are not the only person going through a difficult time can help people through those tough times,” Weber said.
Both companies hope the community will use these events to meet new people and create connections throughout Manhattan. Flight Crew intends to make this week’s events continue regularly.
“The plan is for the Grief Talks to be an ongoing series hosted here at Flight Crew,” Weber said. “We also plan to continue having other community-based events and are always working on new ideas and open to suggestions on what the community thinks that we are missing and how we at Flight Crew can help with filling that gap.”
That community-focused vision for the space directly aligns with the mission of Bond Grief Collective, which Olivia and Austin Bond founded.
“Grief in Good Company is a monthly conversation series centered around grief and the many ways it shows up in our lives,” Olivia Bond said. “Grief doesn’t look the same for everyone, and it can change with every season of life. I wanted to create a space where we could have honest conversations about something so many of us experience, but often struggle to talk about.”
This month’s talks aim to find tangible ways to show empathy to our loved ones, and to ourselves.
“We don’t always know what to say or how to help,” Olivia Bond said. “I certainly don’t have all the answers. We’re all human, and sometimes we just need a few ideas on how to show up for one another.”
To keep these conversations effective and meaningful as the year progresses, Bond Grief Collective aims to address the emotions that often accompany the holiday season. Rather than treating grief as something to hide during times of celebration, November’s discussion will center on how grief and joy can coexist.
“More than anything, I hope this series makes grief feel a little less intimidating to talk about,” Olivia Bond said. “It’s about bringing a vulnerable, sometimes scary topic into a welcoming space where people feel seen, heard, and acknowledged. At the end of the day, we don’t need to be fixed. We really just need to be heard.”
