The Origin of Heroes Café Shoreline

A fraction of the crowd at Heroes Cafe Lynnwood, December 17, 2019.
Photo by Mark Kethlaor

By Doug Cerretti

I have previously written about the creation of Heroes Café Lynnwood (see article). 

Gary Walderman, Executive Director of Heroes Café Lynnwood relates, “Back in 2016 when we were kicking this thing around that the suicide rate among service members was 22 per day. We had to do something; we had to help stop this.” 

Thus, Heroes Café Lynnwood held its first meeting January 31, 2017 and their monthly meeting has now grown to over 130 attendees, composed mostly of veterans along with family, friends and the community. 

Heroes Café is Veterans Helping Veterans with gatherings on a monthly basis to focus on veteran and supporter camaraderie, personal safety, positive outreach, healthy interactions and improving the welfare within our community. 

Betsy Robertson chatting with Ray Coffey
Photo by Mark Kethlaor

In 2019 Betsy Robertson, who is the Communications Director for the American Red Cross Northwest Region, began hearing more and more about Heroes Café from her Red Cross colleagues who were volunteering through its Service to the Armed Forces program and raving about their experiences. 

She also was newly elected to the Shoreline City Council. On December 17, 2019, Betsy attended Heroes Café Lynnwood, then held at Lynnwood’s Verdant Community Wellness Center, to find out for herself what this was about. 

The first thing she noticed was the number of participants, well over 100 and she also noted many of the attendees were from Shoreline, including Larry Fischer, Commander of The American Legion Post 227 in Shoreline and Ray Coffey, Chairman of the Shoreline Veterans Association (SVA). 

Wearing the hat of a Councilmember from the City of Shoreline, Betsy asked herself, why can’t we do this for Shoreline and North King County? She then asked Larry and Ray, “Why are we having all of these veterans from Shoreline driving to Lynnwood? We need to host a Heroes Café in Shoreline” and Ray and Larry totally agreed. 

Ray Coffey as Chairman of the SVA was a natural to take on this challenge. The SVA was formed in 2010 to build the Shoreline Veterans Recognition Plaza at City Hall which was dedicated in 2016, (see article). 

Betsy introduced Ray to her Red Cross colleagues in King County and got permission from Gary Walderman to “franchise” the name and concept of Heroes Café. Betsy also found a location to hold the event in Shoreline, the Seattle Scottish Rite Center, where she had hosted Red Cross blood drives. 

The inaugural meeting of Heroes Cafe Shoreline, March 9, 2021 with Ray Coffey, Larry Fischer and Gary Walderman. Photo by Doug Cerretti

With help from Larry, Earl Thompson and me and additional support from the City of Shoreline and the Shoreline Chamber of Commerce, we were ready for the inaugural Heroes Café Shoreline on the second Tuesday of the month, April 9, 2020! 

Well, you can imagine the disappointment after all that planning to have the COVID-19 pandemic start a month before. Our dream to start Heroes Café Shoreline was dashed but we kept our power dry. 

Still in the pandemic, we decided to start Heroes Café Shoreline March 9, 2021 attracting 22 attendees for the inaugural meeting following the Health Department rules for gatherings. As the pandemic waned the attendance numbers increased and today, we routinely gather over 100 participants, the largest gathering of veterans on a monthly basis in King County. 

As was noted above Heroes Café is not just for veterans but for family, friends and the community. There are now three Heroes Cafes in the region, with the addition of Heroes Café Woodinville which started in 2023. 

While we have the same name and similar programs, we are independent of each other but we help each other and many people attend some or all of the Heroes Cafés. Like many veteran organizations, Heroes Café Shoreline is a venue for a gathering of veterans for interaction, camaraderie and to reach out to veterans in need. 

Unique among veteran organizations is that there is nothing to join, you just show up. Heroes Café Shoreline begins at 9am with a continental breakfast, followed by a Veterans program and lunch ending at 1pm. There is no cost to participate.

Veterans are the primary people we want to reach in addition to their family, friends and the community who support veterans. 

Heroes Café Shoreline has partnered with many groups to provide benefits, education and service to veterans including the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Washington State Department of Veteran Affairs, King County Veteran Program, and the American Red Cross. 

Because many of us are senior citizens, we also partner with organizations that service senior citizens including the King County Assessor's Office for property tax relief, AARP Fraud Prevention Team, Red Cross free smoke alarm program, and the King County EMS fall prevention program. 

American Red Cross volunteers Cheryl Provorse, Marilyn Nadeau and Myra Rintamaki.
Photo by Mark Kethlaor

We also leverage the fact that we gather so many veterans and seniors in one place that these partners travel to us. It should be noted that Red Cross Volunteers Cheryl Provorse, Marilyn Nadeau and Myra Rintamaki not only continue to support Heroes Café Lynnwood but also facilitate Heroes Café Shoreline. Without their support we could not have Heroes Café Shoreline.

The Heroes Café Shoreline meeting March 11, 2025 will mark our four-year anniversary and we look forward to helping veterans and their families for many years to come with the wonderful support of many volunteers.

• Heroes Café Shoreline meets the second Tuesday of every month from 9:00am to 1:00pm at Seattle Scottish Rite Center, 1207 N 152nd St, Shoreline WA 98133.
• Heroes Café Woodinville meets the third Tuesday of every month from 10:00am to 12:30pm at The American Legion Post 127, 21920 State Route 9 SE, Woodinville WA 98072.
• Heroes Café Lynnwood meets the fourth Tuesday of every month from 9:00am to 1:00pm at New Life Church, 6519 188th St SW, Lynnwood WA 98037.