Behind the Customer Curtain-A Look Into the True Nature of Trail Youth

Section 1: The Letter

A letter to Stone and the Trail Youth Coffee Co. Board:

Did you forget your mission? Did you forget the goals you set to train teens to be able to get a real job? Did you forget that Trail Youth was meant to be a safe-space for all?

Becoming a ministry defeats that goal, and that letter you posted shows that you don’t care for your own goals and missions. You turn a blind eye to the community that has been fostered in this cafe as well as the volunteers who worked here just to push your beliefs onto others.

Opening shifts and not having any schedules is NOT a good idea. It does not allow for concrete planning of any schedule or any activity and it seriously ruins a lot of barista’s schedules, causing them to have to sacrifice their commitments. It is not a smart decision on management’s behalf, just because this decision might “make scheduling easier” for management does not take into account any of the volunteers or baristas you are meant to be training. It is a selfish choice. You (stone) and the board forgot what Trail Youth’s original mission was, It was to provide a safe and inclusive space for all teens. The space stopped being safe and inclusive when the pride flags were taken down and letters were put up all for “profit” (Trail is a non-profit). On top of that mission, Trail is supposed to train volunteers to the likes of a ‘real’ (paying) job, this includes shifts, communication, scheduling, etc. This is not happening in light of the recent management change and schedule decisions. Many ‘real’ jobs would not exclusively use open shifts for all their shifts as doing this would damage profit, hours, tracking, training, etc.

On the note of profit, profit was never Trail Youth’s mission. Their mission was to be a non-profit and live off of grants. If you (board) cared so much about profit, you would not be opening up shifts, hiring incompetent managers, removing the measurements of drinks, and refusing collaborations with other companies. Get that in your head. Since you (stone) have become the manager of Trail, the cafe has declined more than I ever could have imagined in just a few weeks.This decline is a disgrace to those of us (Baristas, Managers, and Volunteers alike) who have poured so much of themselves into this shop and its community just to see all of their hard work and love completely erased. The Board and Management need to rethink all of their decisions and take into account the thoughts, opinions, and views of the community as well as the volunteers before making any more changes.

Being in Management is meant to be managed as a democracy where you take ideas and constructive criticism from those who work with and for you, it is not a game where you (Stone+Board) get to go willy-nilly making decisions by yourselves and playing god. Management and the board need to rethink all of their choices and consider this a message from those who truly care about the cafe and have been here from the start.

The board and management has not apologized to the volunteers at Trail, and those volunteers will not comply or apologize to them as we have rights to pitch in to this place we could once call home. I am sincerely sorry to those who did care about the cafe and now have to watch it burn. But just as a Phoenix, I hope the cafe will be able to rise from the ashes and start anew, better than it was beforehand, and rid itself of the pestilence that plagues it.

And to Stone in specific,

You are not fit for this job. You do not take safety concerns seriously, you do not know coffee, you twist our words, you lie to everyone, and you barely know food safety. Do you even have a valid food-handler’s license? Have you ever managed a nonprofit before? I highly doubt both of those as you have not shown your skill, you won’t even take criticism from those more experienced than you. You sir, need to rethink yourself and your choices before you leave and apply somewhere else.

The Trail Youth Will grow to its full potential WITHOUT the board and without you, stone.

I hope one day to see it grow without those who harm it. Trail was my home, my safe space, and because of the board and management… I have lost all of that. The fact that your main customer base and main barista demographic (mentally-ill queer people) don’t feel safe in the cafe should be all the proof you need to see that you have failed to complete your mission.

DO BETTER

-Old Trail Youth Volunteers

(Btw: Taking pride flags down actively shows homophobia, and makes Trail less of a safe space for all)

Section 2: Testimonials

Pheonix

I am Pheonix, I’ve worked at Trail Youth for 5 years up until June of 2025 when I quit due to the reasons outlined above (change in management, religious affiliation, disrespecting volunteers, open shifts, etc). The Trail Youth Coffee Co. has been a second home and a reliable job since middle school when I first started working there under Aaron (manager). Back then, coffee was simple and we didn’t get many customers. Throughout the years we have had a few managers, first was Crystal and Aaron and then Tiffany and now Stone. Once Tiffany was hired, coffee started getting better and our quality rose dramatically (which is good for a coffee shop as it attracts customers). While it was hard to adjust to Tiffany’s style in the beginning, it was a reasonable change that was explained to the volunteers throughout each step. By mid-2024 we were known for our house roasted coffee that is pulled by actual people instead of machines, as well as by our marketing team and mobile operations. All of this can be accredited to Tiffany (manager), Bridget (therapist), Julian (shift-manager), and the volunteers. Around the beginning of May we put pride flags up in the cafe, and when we came back a week later they were gone. The only one that was up was the rainbow and the pan flag. We dug a little bit into it but couldn’t figure it out, we eventually found the flags thrown away behind the bar, uncrumpled them, and hung them back up. Later on, the board decided that they were going to make Trail Youth a Christian Ministry which we disagreed with deeply. So, the volunteers and managers got together to sign a petition against the ministry being formed because a lot of the people we pledged to protect and provide a safe space for have had some form of religious trauma and/or did not want beliefs forced onto them. During this whole commotion, mini-jesus figures were being placed around the shop by an unknown person as if to further push their beliefs. We got a lot of signatures on the petition from almost all the volunteers and some of the customers/community as well, but the board didn’t even take it into account and just brushed it off. In fact, they just printed a bunch of the same letter saying “we say we understand your concern, but we won’t do anything about it because this won’t actually hurt you”. The board blatantly ignored their entire volunteer base, as well as some of their employees and community. I feel that this shouldn’t be legal, and that we (the volunteers and workers) should get a say in how to keep this ‘safe space’ truly safe. After this happened, more pride flags were removed and Tiffany was demoted because she stood with the volunteers and not the board. She felt that was disrespectful to her (which it was) so she resigned from her position, this left the board with full control and things only went downhill from there. The first day we worked with Stone, he had no clue how to close the store (things were not left out properly from the Friday closing shift) and also did not know how to open. He said that he would “learn it from you guys (us)” and “let y’all (us) do your (our) thing” which is not how a manager is supposed to work. I believe that the board made a choice to hire someone who would follow and agree with them even if it meant that person lacking the experience needed to run a cafe. Within the few weeks that stone started, he put our advertising signs out in the street in the middle of a parking space/bike-lane. We told him that we never did this and only put them on the sidewalk because that is safer and accounts for the safety of bikers and cars trying to park alike. We gave him calm, constructive criticism and behind our backs he said “Pheonix is mad at me for putting the signs in the street”. He took nothing in and continued to perpetuate a safety hazard, to tarnish mine and my co-workers’ images, and to blatantly lie. They also try to quiet down our freedom of speech, this document is the aftermath of that. They took down letters, and deleted resignation messages in the company group-chat within minutes without even letting us know if our resignation was accepted. I decided to come into the shop to wait for a friend to get off shift so that I could hang out with them, this was after I resigned so I did not work there anymore. Stone’s whole personality was different towards me because I was not a volunteer there anymore, he was more angry, more pessimistic, and overall more negative towards my existence in the cafe. What this shows (from my perspective) is that Stone was putting on a mask and treating the baristas and volunteers with false kindness and care, only pretending to enjoy working at Trail and working with them. Something else that I noticed was that I was scolded when I went to grab scissors from the communal drawer in the back left corner of the cafe (not behind the bar or around food handling equipment). We have allowed teens to grab the scissors from that drawer for as long as I have been there so that they could do whatever project they needed to work on and because Trail is a safe and open space for all teens. Stone coldly told me that I “don’t work here anymore, you are not allowed behind bar” and just stared at me. For one, that area is not a bar - two, if you changed the ‘rules’ in the cafe for the community, maybe there should be a sign up in the cafe to let the community know about those changes. He was also mad when I went to put the scissors back in the drawer instead of leaving them just laying out, which was very confusing to me. Lastly, they were reusing dirty measuring cups to make new drinks which is a direct violation of food handlers code in Washington state. There were a few other food handling issues but this was the main one.

Safe to say I will (sadly) not be working at Trail Youth, the coffee shop I loved and used to call home, until it is under better management who cares for their volunteers, community, and is not bigoted and homophobic towards queer disabled people like myself. For a more in depth view on everything that has happened, please feel free to look at Aries's testimonial as they are a very close friend of mine and a co-worker of many years.

Sage

Hi, my name is Sage and I’ve worked at Trail youth for a little over a year. When I started at Trail, it was very welcoming and there were always happy faces. Tiffany was always happy to see people and gave off very friendly older sister vibes, it was comforting and nice to have that in a space like Trail because it makes it feel safe. Tiffany was like an older sibling that you could trust and go to when things were tough, and trail was a very safe place to go when I couldn’t be at home or at school or at other places for personal reasons. It was a space that you could get away for a little bit and get help at. You could tell that during that time, Trail Youth was extremely inclusive. Now, Trail says they “are being very inclusive” but it's all just a facade because they just don’t want people to get mad at them. It doesn’t feel inclusive. Alongside that, Stone is a little bit too laid back and doesn’t manage well. Tiffany was very good at having a balance between being more straightforward and being chill, whereas stone does not do that very well. Thanks to that, coffee doesn’t even taste good any more. Now, after all the shifts, the shop has lost all of the comforting vibes and really doesn’t feel safe anymore like it used to and- I feel sad that I’ve lost a place to go that isn’t my home (which feels unsafe sometimes). Now that Trail isn’t safe I- I don’t really know where to go, quite frankly I’m f*cked. A while back it was a place where you could meet good people, chill people, people who cared and understood and saw because they were in the same spot as you… but as I’ve said before- it’s just not like that anymore. During rushes shots got really hard to pull and could mess up a lot, but Tiffany was very good at comforting us and making sure we felt understood and seen during that moment. Tiffany would encourage you and reassure you once it was over, telling you it would be ok. Stone on the other hand is not good at being encouraging, and doesn’t know how to make coffee. If you were having trouble, Stone would not let the customers know and would just step into your place without giving you a chance to work on and learn your mistakes and shortcomings. With Stone, there’s no motivator to ‘prove yourself’ to him because it just does not feel worth it. … When I first started working at Trail, you’d see kids come in and hang out for multiple hours at a time. Now I feel like we’re losing those people who used to be here for hours, and are gaining more adults which is not supposed to be the primary customer base of the shop. Quite frankly I just- don’t understand it. I think that Trail Youth has- overall -lost the welcoming and safe vibe that it used to have due to Board decisions and changes in management. They act like they’re trying to keep the vibes but they already lost them, they’re very transparent with what they plan to do with Trail and it’s just sad. From any volunteer or ex-volunteer, when they hear about the changes, they always feel dismay and annoyance. They always know what’s up, whereas the board and stone do not know what trail youth is supposed to be about… and that is one of the worst things about it.

Aries

Hi, my name is Aries. I’ve been at Trail Youth for two and a half years. When I started volunteering here back in 2023 under Aaron and occasionally Crystal (previous managers), there were a few things I noticed right away; Trail Youth was a safe space for everyone, and everyone was welcome. Back then, things were way different, and while the quality wasn’t the best and the training was… eh, I always felt welcome and Trail Youth very quickly became a second home to me, and I found myself counting down the days between shifts and constantly wanting to be around. I started looking at my week differently. Instead of just being Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, it was Five-More-Days-Until-Trail, Four-More-Days-Until-Trail, etc. It was something I actually looked forward to, and I felt like I had a purpose. Nine months into my time there, there was a change in management. Suddenly, Aaron was gone, and a few months after that, so was Crystal, and there was a new manager. While I was scared of Tiffany at first, her style of management quickly started to make sense. Our recipes became consistent and we were drawing in more people. Sure, there were a few rough patches and a lot of resistance on my end because I didn’t want things to change, but looking back, it was for the better, and I learned a lot from those experiences and am very fortunate to have gotten to work with those people.

By mid-2024, we had an amazing marketing team, great leaders and volunteers who were well trained and loved what they were doing. I felt closer with my team than ever before and felt like I had a place where I was valued and where I belonged. Early May, pride flags were pinned to the bulletin board by the entrance of the shop, and as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, having those flags displayed meant more than pride and being seen, it meant safety, and equality. It meant that I was allowed to be who I am without fear of being bullied or harassed. You can imagine the hurt I felt when we came back the next week to find those flags taken down, crumpled, and thrown away. Not long after that, Trail Youth’s board decided to make Trail Youth a ministry without consulting any of the people that made Trail Youth, well, Trail Youth. A petition was put together, and it was signed by almost every volunteer and a lot of the community too, saying “No. We do not want Trail Youth to become a ministry.” but of course, the board disregarded this and progressed anyway, and with that, I saw my safe space, my home, start to crumble. The board tried to demote Tiffany, resulting in her resigning and leaving the organization altogether, which allowed the board to take full control, and it has only gone downhill since. Jesus mini-figures were placed around the shop, Trail Youth slowly became less and less inclusive and no longer felt like the ‘safe space’ it claimed to be. Safe to say we lost our entire marketing team and about half of our volunteers.

The first day working with Stone was- stressful, to say the least. It became apparent very quickly that he had no clue what he was doing, which he then confirmed himself, saying he would learn from us and that we could just do our thing. The quality of our coffee dropped drastically almost overnight. I wanted to give him a chance, see the good in him like I try to do for everyone, hear him out like I did for Tiffany, but him saying that he only took the pride flags down in order to not scare away ‘potential customers’ was my last straw. He claimed it was because we ‘needed money’ but then turned around and said we no longer needed to use the tool we had in order to save money. He started going against everything that Trail Youth previously stood for, which was to provide a safe space for youth who may not have a space like that. We were never meant to be for profit, money was never our focus, our focus was the youth and making sure they had the resources they needed. But under Stone and the board, Trail Youth became religious, which when a majority of your volunteer force is queer and has religious trauma, yeah… it no longer feels safe. And that’s just the beginning of it. Stone started putting our signs out in the street, despite multiple warnings that they belonged on the sidewalk for the safety of bikers and people trying to park. The road is not a safe place for signs, and they do not belong there. But they keep getting put back there anyway. He also said that he didn't care that much for boundaries, and when you work with a ton of minors… massive red flag. There have been numerous times when I have shown up before the shop opened to set up, only to find that very little, sometimes none of the closing tasks from the evening before had been completed. Then he made all the shifts open. I had been working from nine to noon every Saturday for two years. Then all of a sudden, that shift is gone and I have to work nine-thirty to one, which may not seem like a huge deal, but it’s the fact that the change was made with no warning. It also isn’t the best feeling in the world when your preferred shift gets stolen and you can’t work that week. It was also annoying to have four people working at the same time. The schedule made no sense. It was so much better when there were three shifts and they were all assigned. Not this ‘everyone has different hours and they all overlap at some point’ nonsense.

After Pheonix left, Stone’s whole demeanor changed. I am not a very outspoken person, and usually try my best to remain neutral, despite my true opinions, which he took as me agreeing with everything he said. After Pheonix left, Stone started talking negatively about her, saying that Pheonix was ‘angry’ about things, like the signs being in the road, even though she was never angry, simply stating that it was unsafe. He expected me to agree with him and speak negatively about one of my closest friends. Trail Youth was supposed to be a place where I didn't have to pretend to agree in order to avoid conflict. I have to do that enough at home. I also overheard him explaining to a few customers that he ‘ had to keep the pride flags up’ due to the backlash he experienced by taking them down. This shows that he doesn’t actually care about being inclusive. He cares about money and reputation. I wanted to believe that he had good intentions, and that his priorities were just skewed, but then he gave away half of our donations in a raffle. Someone who cared about money enough to go against his volunteers wishes wouldn’t do that. Since Stone has started working, Trail Youth has only gone further and further downhill. I used to stay from opening to closing, sometimes helping, sometimes just hanging out, but now I find myself resenting my shifts and having to force myself to go and then leaving the second I clocked out. When I texted Stone, giving him a month's notice of my departure, it was met with excess guilt tripping, trying to convince me to stay. The reasons that I stated were simply that I no longer had time to volunteer, which was partially true. He accepted my resignation, and I thought that was the end of it, but every time I have stepped foot in that building since, he has described me as the ‘one who was leaving him’ and told volunteers to ‘make me feel bad for leaving’ so I would stay. I understand not wanting someone to leave, I’ve experienced that too with previous volunteers and managers, but guilt tripping is not the way to go, especially not when you are dragging other, uninvolved parties into it.

I’m sorry that it’s come to this, but I can’t remain neutral anymore. I thought I could tough it out and see the positive, but there is no positive anymore. I watched everything that had been built in the last two years crumble in just two months. Trail Youth is falling apart, and it’s all Stone and the board's fault. It’s devastating to lose my safe space, but I cannot bring myself to continue working there until it falls under better management.

Section 3: What is defined as a ‘safe space’?

In this document, myself and others continue to refer to Trail Youth being known as a “safe space.” Now, the words ‘safe space’ can have many meanings for many people. For some it means a space where they feel protected, for others it's purely a community of like minded people, that is to say that a place being ‘safe’ can mean a lot of things. In the state of Washington however, there is a legal definition for it. As described by Civics Nation, and Washington State education sites a safe space- in most cases- is a gathering of people who “agree to refrain from ridicule, negative criticism or what they term microaggressions–subtle displays of racial or sexual bias–so that everyone can relax enough to explore the nuances of, say, a fluid gender identity” (Civics Nation, Demystifying What a Safe Space Is). There is also an academic safe space, in which people are encouraged to share thoughts, questions, opinions, etc. In the end, the goal is to have open dialogue so that a variety of perspectives can be listened to, understood, represented, and considered. Trail Youth has a sticker in its window that says “Safe Space” on it with a rainbow/lgbtq+ flag as its background, but the fact still stands that Trail Youth is not ‘all encompassing’ and does not make people feel ‘secure and welcomed’ anymore (see Aries’s testimonial).
Not only is it downright offensive and annoying to see a space purposefully ignore these definitions and laws of what a ‘safe space’ has to be, but it is also lying to customers and people/teens coming in there to seek help and to seek a space where they can be without any negativity.

Section 4: Religion in Queer spaces

I would like to preface this section with saying that; I think that everyone should have the right to believe in what/who they want to believe in, and that those people should be able to live their lives just the same as everyone else, regardless of viewpoint.

Now, with that said, I do not think that you should shove your religion/what you believe in in other people’s faces. I am allowed to hold my own opinion about a person if they are actively harming people (without consent) because of their religion or beliefs.

Now, religion in queer dominant spaces. This has always been a topic of debate, especially as many religions (especially christianity and catholicism) are extremely vocal about their thoughts about queer people and how they should live their lives. This, in turn, has caused a lot of deep-seated religious trauma in young and old queer peoples alike. In the case of Trail Youth, its main demographic (both in volunteers and in consumers) is younger, neurodivergent queer people. Many of these people, at least 1 in 3 of them, likely have religious trauma. What is religious trauma? “Religious trauma is defined as ​​ emotional issues people face as they leave authoritarian religions, psychological harm including fear, anger, depression, loss of self, agency, and decision-making” (OutFrontMagazine, Queer People and Religious Trauma). Many people with religious families often face some form of homophobic rhetoric at home, so going to Trail was a good place for them to escape that. But now, under new management and a board that only cares about their own views, Trail Youth ended up being a place that also- quietly- preaches that same homophobic rhetoric. This is not ok, no person and no place should believe more in a god than in the people who are just trying to survive as who they were meant to be on this planet.

Section 5: Actions

In the past two weeks, more has changed at Trail. Today when going to enter the cafe (as a customer), I was barred from entry by Stone Fleshman as he body blocked me and got up close to me. I was out of the loop and was very confused as to why I was being blocked from entry, and Stone said it was because I was a “Safety Hazard” and would not elaborate further than that no matter how many times we asked. He seemed to be upset about the letter (See; Section 1: The Letter) that I had placed on the community table alongside other notes, papers, zines, books, etc. The odd thing about this though is that he continued to say that he “didn’t even get to read the letter” even while showing signs of understanding what was said. According to him (and probably the board as well), I am a ‘safety hazard’ because of the letter that I placed in the cafe. I acknowledged that I was barred from entry into the cafe and gave him a family phone number (this is the only way he said he would allow me back into the cafe) after a lengthy conversation with two volunteers as well as friends, however I doubt that the number was used to let me back into the cafe and was instead used for law enforcement to contact a family member. After 5 minutes of being in the courtyard that - albeit while still on property - I was allowed to be in, myself and my friends left the premises of the cafe and did not return at all for the rest of the day. When we came back and sat down at a neighboring eatery, a sheriff’s car pulled up and walked inside. This was intriguing not only because we don’t usually get cops in the cafe, but also considering the circumstances that had taken place earlier. We sat and waited until a friend wanted to get a drink, so they walked into the cafe and ordered a drink. The moment that they entered the cafe, the officer and Stone both got up and moved to the more private conference room in the back of the shop. Why? I am not fully sure, but I have my theories (most involve Stone trying to trespass me so I cannot go back on property). The fact that Stone - without viable cause (as far as I know) - called the cops on a teen is astounding to me. I had to go over the things that I should and shouldn’t if approached by an officer, and was very close to asking for a full report on the situation as well as the security footage of Stone physically getting into my personal space. Once the sheriff left, two more police showed up on the other side of the road and began searching nearby buildings; I am unsure if this was related to the case with the sheriff or not.
As we all have probably heard many times in our life, “Actions speak louder than words.” Especially in cases like these. This is why I would like to address a few more concerning actions Stone has taken that can jeopardize customer and volunteer safety.
It is written in Washington State Health-Code that there need to be 3 sinks for cleaning (clean, rinse, sanitize) and one sink for hand-washing, it is also written in that all perishable items (once opened) need to be dated properly (expiration date, date opened, etc.). Stone has already gotten rid of dating perishable items, and would like to only have 2 sinks- or “ideally” just have volunteers ‘rinse’ off the dishes. This is against health-code and can cause serious illnesses as well as leading to a generally more unsafe and unsanitary workspace.

Stone has also openly tried to push religion onto people while refusing to learn what different pride flags are. He has been quoted saying “One of them gave their life for your sins” when handing out mini spinner-wheel prizes. The prizes were a miniature pig, or a miniature statue of Jesus. The fact that he is pushing this on people and making them uncomfortable while taking down pride flags that he “doesn’t understand” as a self-proclaimed gay man speaks a very large amount to what type of person Stone Fleshman really is.
The Board is also extremely bigoted, pushing biased beliefs on people higher and lower in the company as well as pushing religious agendas onto a company that has no reason to be religious. It isn’t even profit driven as Trail youth has just gotten a 3-year long grant that will provide funds for the cafe. As far as I have heard, the new executive director of the board care more about herself and her wants than the cafe itself.

Section 6: Thoughts

I really did not want to write this document. I did not want any part in this, I did not want the board to do what they did or Tiffany to leave or Stone to become manager. But I feel obligated to. I feel obligated to make this document for those who don’t have a safe place to stay, for those looking for jobs, for those who love their community, for those who like to help others, and most importantly- for the baristas and friends I have made and known throughout my years working at Trail. To see a place that was once a thriving home for everyone turn into a religious capitalistic hell is- saddening to say the least. To see someone use their position in power to take advantage of volunteers, to badmouth people, to hurt people, and to stress people out angers me beyond belief. I have parents who do the same thing at home, and people who do the same thing at school, and to have to go to my job that I used to love and endure the same thing is draining and painful. To have to be the one who protects everyone else there and protects the shop because I care more about them than the person who was hired to teach, take care of, and help them is devastating. I look at that shop, and those volunteers as a home and my family… and to see my family and my home torn down by those who only care for profit is- there aren’t words to describe it.
I just hope that this document brings to light the inner workings of the cafe over the past few months and allows members of the community to truly see what has been going on for the volunteers who serve you drinks, and the cafe that used to invite you in with a warm hug but now only touches you with a cold embrace. I hope to expose the hatred and unkindness of those in management and upper management who put on a mask for customers, but are only there to hurt. I hope that this shows people that we can make change in the world, even if only on a small scale.
If you read this, I want to thank you so very much for taking your time to try and understand the struggles of a team- of a family who cares so much about this cafe and its community. I want you to take action against that cafe and its management, want past volunteers to make their own call-outs, want the community to help us take back the cafe and make it a home again. I want the people ordering their drinks to tell the managers and the board members to do better.
Thank you (community) for your time and effort. To everyone besides Stone and the trail youth board, I hope that you’re all able to stay safe and have a wonderful day.

-Pheonix

Sources:
- https://www.outfrontmagazine.com/queer-people-and-religious-trauma/

- https://www.civicsnation.org/2018/04/06/demystifying-safe-space/

- https://www.oeo.wa.gov/en/education-issues/bullying-harassment-and-intimidation

-Personal experience

-Volunteer testimonials