Fresh Ground

Fresh Ground Cafe

Recycle Cycles

Worth A Second Look

Fresh ground

Located at 256 King Street East, Fresh Ground is a short walk from the Kitchener Market. Open in the summer of 2017 after several years of planning and renovations, Fresh Ground invites people into new ways of thinking about food, localism, and the building of community.

Fresh Ground hosts several of our Community Tools projects that combine skills development with opportunities to support enterprise and community engagement.

The location is anchored by the Fresh Ground Cafe and also includes an events space, and Recycle Cycles Community Bike Shop. The top floor includes affordable housing and is home to eight residents

Fresh Ground Cafe

Fresh Ground Cafe re-opened in September 2024

Fresh Ground is intended to be an oasis of brightness and calm, with close to 1,000 plants helping us to build an inviting gathering place.

To coincide with our re-opening, we introduced a new menu that celebrates community, sustainability, and the joy of sharing meals. We prepare fresh food daily, uniting individuals from diverse backgrounds to collaborate, acquire new skills, and create delicious, affordable, and healthy whole food dishes.

Discover our beloved traditional favorites alongside offerings from our new café, which features a plant-based menu designed to encourage mindful eating and promote a lighter lifestyle.

We have been working to build a regenerative café model by reducing waste in our practices and in our take out dishes. A new coffee roaster prepares fresh roasted coffee and the delicious teas and drinks make this a great spot to grab a tea or coffee, or meet a friend.

Fresh Ground Café is also a space that will host discussions and explorations of ideas that focus on building a more compassionate and just world.

Bicycles affixed to work stations inside the Recycle Cycles community bike shop
A man with a tool works on a bicycle inside the Recycle Cycles shop
A man works on a bicycle inside the Recycle Cycles shop

Recycle Cycles

In 2023 Recycle Cycles re-opened at 256 King Street East

Recycle Cycles Community Bike Shop puts a focus on promoting cycling by making bicycle purchase, maintenance and repair accessible and affordable.

Tools, maintenance supplies, and bike repair stations are available for public use. Knowledgeable and skillful staff and volunteers can assist you with repairs and tune-ups.

Affordable used bikes are available for sale that have been skillfully repaired by staff and volunteers.

In addition to our shop operations, Recycle Cycles also partners with community centres and other organizations for community events which bring our skills directly to kids and adults throughout Kitchener and Waterloo.

We accept donations of bicycles, parts and accessories any time during our open hours.

We are looking for experienced volunteers!

Skilled volunteers familiar with bike repair and tools are needed to help refurbish donated bicycles and stripping parts. Volunteers also provide friendly assistance to members of the public to repair their bikes, do tune-ups, and make bicycle purchases.

For more about volunteering, come by the shop during open hours, or visit The Working Centre’s Volunteer page.

“Community tools projects evolved by combining community service with social enterprise. Each tool is structured to create an environment that allows maximum involvement, creating ways for people who have been excluded to contribute.

The resulting projects invite people away from isolation to become involved in serving others, to use tools productively, and to become part of a group that serves a public need. In this way, community tools offer opportunities to combine work experience, skill building, civic involvement, and a new freedom to contribute in a positive way.”

Transition to Common Work: Building Community at The Working Centre, 2015, p 132

A brick building with a green entry door between large windows at 37 Market Lane, the Worth A Second Look store entrance
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Worth A Second Look

In 2023 Worth A Second Look re-opened at its new location at 37 Market Lane, steps away from the Kitchener Market

Worth A Second Look (WASL) thrift shop provides the community with low-cost used furniture and assorted housewares items while keeping reusable goods out of landfills. WASL volunteers sort and price thousands of affordable used items weekly.

  • Furniture
  • Small Appliances
  • Housewares
  • Electronics
  • Jewelry
  • Toys
  • Books
  • Music & Movies
  • Tools
  • Furniture
  • Small Appliances
  • Housewares
  • Electronics
  • Jewelry
  • Toys
  • Books
  • Music & Movies
  • Tools

Donations and volunteers are always welcome. More information available on The Working Centre’s website.

Go to Victoria St North

Ideas at The Working Centre

Queen St. South

Victoria St. North

Fresh Ground
Victoria St. North
Queen St. South
Fresh Ground

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The Integrated Circle of Care is a fluid and collaborative approach followed by workers from different agencies weaving through St. John’s Kitchen. Within this approach, staff members from each agency are aware of their specific personal roles. However, the high level of collaboration between workers means that people can approach any worker, without knowing their agency association or specific role, and still receive support – either that worker will support the person directly, or they will introduce the person to another worker who can support the person more appropriately.

This approach makes relationships more natural and support more accessible. Workers from different agencies are easily approachable, meaning that people build relationships with multiple workers. Having relationships with different workers is important to a person’s support – it makes support from a trusted source easy to find, and means that people have a choice of worker to approach in any given situation.

In order to maintain a circle of care around a person, workers from different agencies ask for consent from the person for information to be shared between workers. Continuous communication between workers helps to ensure that people do not fall into gaps between services, and also that services are not duplicated.