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May 16, 2019 | Volume 4, Issue 16
50 ¢
New owners of Leeds’ Daylight Donuts stores to send profits to third-world countries BY BRAD FISHER Leeds Tribune Staff Mike Herron used to get people’s hearts pumping by helping install pacemakers and stents. But now he and his family are giving folks a jolt the old-fashioned way – with coffee. And they are helping eliminate third-world poverty while they’re doing it. Mike and Lisa Herron are the new owners of the Daylight Donut stores in The Outlet Shops at Grand River and on Parkway Drive in Leeds. Their son, Houston, will manage the stores. “Daylight Donuts in Leeds is now under new management and is partnering with Non-Fiction Coffee Co.,” the previous owners, Jonathan and Valarie David, said in a Facebook post on May 6. “Now every donut and coffee you buy helps to eliminate the systemic poverty that has existed for generations in third world countries.”
Herron said he is new to the retail coffee business, but his wife Lisa has owned Non-Fiction Coffee Co. since 2015, and the family helps run it. Non-Fiction Coffee Co. is a wholesale coffee company that sells what Herron calls “ethically sourced coffee” to churches and businesses, with some retail online and in Piggly Wiggly stores, and now at Daylight Donuts. “Non-Fiction Coffee is for-profit, but we give back,” Herron said. “We work with the farmers and try to get them a fair wage. Coffee is grown in the poorest countries in the world. In Central America, China, Africa, a dollar there is like $100 here. It doesn’t take a whole lot to make a difference.” As they work with farmers, they also spread the Gospel, Herron said. Herron retired from the cardiology medical supply business in his mid-50s. “It
was a great job, but it was a lot of travel,” he said. He and his wife owned some drug stores and were active in the Church of the Highlands. That’s when the church asked him to look into finding a source for coffee that supported the church’s mission and vision. That assignment turned into NonFiction Coffee Co. And the business took off. “It turns out there were a lot of churches and businesses who were looking for an ethical and/or spiritual source for products,” Herron said. Herron said he and his family had considered opening a coffee shop in the past, “but just couldn’t make the numbers work.” Then when he was talking with Jonathan and Valarie David about using Non-Fiction coffee in their stores, they asked him if he was interested in buying the business. The Parkway Drive Daylight Donuts store opened three years ago. The store at
Grand River opened about a year ago, according to the Daylight Donut Facebook page. The Grand River location currently sells more coffee, but Herron said the Parkway Drive store can sell more with the right offerings. He said they are looking at expanding into smoothies, protein smoothies and cookies. The Parkway Drive store has room to host Bible studies or meetings that could attract people and increase sales. Herron noted that there isn’t a high-end coffee shop in Leeds/Moody, but that doesn’t concern him. “I feel like people will get coffee if it’s better coffee,” he said. “We’ll do that.” “I like the area,” he said. “Everybody knows everybody; it has a community feel.” And he said he’s also excited about the growth around exit 140. “This area seems ready to grow,” he said.
Mike and Lisa Herron with their daughter, Ann Harper, on Easter Sunday.
Leeds City School graduates its 15th class next week BY CINDY FISHER Leeds Tribune Staff Leeds High School is gearing up to say goodbye and good luck to the Class of 2019. The graduation ceremony is scheduled for 6 p.m. May 23 at Church of the Highlands on Grants Mill Road. It’s the fourth year Leeds will host its graduation ceremony in the auditorium at Church
of the Highlands after the ceremony outgrew Church at Brook Hills, said Lisa Hudson, LHS guidance counselor. Hudson will also say goodbye at the end of the school year as she retires after 36 years with Leeds schools. This year, 107 seniors will graduate in front of a crowd of about 500. For the first time, the Leeds choir will sing the school’s
alma mater and other selected songs under the direction of Director Chip Wise. The Class of 2019 is the 15th class to graduate from an independent Leeds City School system. Leeds split off from Jefferson County schools through a “Save the Wave” campaign to prevent a planned closure of Leeds High School. Since then, Leeds has seen three new schools and a reno-
vated elementary school and growing classes of students each year. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. May 23. Admission is free, and Seats are first-come, first-served. Leeds administrators request no balloons or decorated caps. Speakers will include Leeds Superintendent John J. Moore, first-year LHS Principal Rayford Williams and Leeds Mayor David Miller.
The 2019 valedictorian and salutatorian will also speak. Those seniors, as well as the class’ Top 10, will be announced after exams are completed and
final grades are posted this week, Hudson said. A video feed of the students accepting their diplomas will be broadcast on the large screen.
Look for the Leeds Tribune’s special Greenwave Graduation Edition in next week’s edition.
Leeds Primary School teachers read bedtime stories to students via Facebook to connect with students after hours BY BLAKE ELLS Leeds Tribune Staff The administrators at Leeds Primary School began a program in March that has become a popular way for students to connect with faculty outside of the classroom. “Sunday Night Bedtime Stories” is a weekly broadcast on Facebook that allows teachers and administration to read their
favorite children’s stories to students of all ages who tune in. During the school year, the Storytime sessions began at 7 p.m., but they will likely be at 8 p.m. throughout the summer as many students participate in extracurricular activities that keep them out a bit later. Either way, the stories are archived at the Leeds Primary School Facebook page, and can be viewed any time.
“It’s giving them an opportunity to see us outside of the school day,” said Principal Leah Pendergrass, who began the program. Children can hear a variety of stories – Pendergrass recently shared “Curious George’s Happy Easter” on Easter, and many teachers have picked their own favorites. Some teachers have had their own children read. As the program expands,
they will add bilingual sessions courtesy of Maria Hodge. The Facebook videos usually collect as many as 600 to 1,000 views each. “Personally, I love Monday mornings,” Pendergrass said. “Monday mornings right after I have read the story, our kids are eager to get out of the car and tell me that they haven’t heard the book before. They remember it. Some of the parents have now started watch-
ing it, so kids are going back and seeing some of the past videos, too.” It humanizes the faculty. It’s more than reading stories; often, faculty members give their students a peak into their lives. The videos are typically being streamed from each teacher’s home. Perhaps they get a chance to meet their teachers’ own children or see their pets. And that allows students to get comfortable with the teachers that they not
only currently have, but the teachers that they will have as they proceed through the Primary School. “Our kids need to be read to, and we love reading to our kids,” Pendergrass said. “It’s not that parents can’t do that; this just gives us a way to interact with them in a different way.” To see past videos and to watch live streams each Sunday evening, search for and like Leeds Primary School on Facebook.
Leeds Primary School Principal Leah Pendergrass reads a Curious George book during a recent Sunday night bedtime story broadcast on Facebook.
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