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ABC News & Good Morning America: Cache Coffee Fights Gun Suicide With Safe Storage

June 8, 2022
·By Cache Coffee TeamVIEW ORIGINAL SOURCE
ABC News & Good Morning America: Cache Coffee Fights Gun Suicide With Safe Storage

In June 2022, Cache Coffee and More became a national story. ABC News and Good Morning America both covered our safe storage program — a community initiative started by owners Jamie and Mindie Buttars after losing a friend to suicide and helping a veteran in crisis.

The concept is simple but powerful: if you or someone you love is struggling and you don't feel safe having firearms at home, you can bring them to Cache Coffee. No judgment. No questions you don't want to answer. Just a safe place to store your weapons until you're ready to take them back.

"It's basically a community place. There's always people here," said Jamie Buttars. "We have put three or four guns in our safe the last three months. That's people that want to help themselves, get better, or they've helped a family member."

Clinical social worker Kim Openshaw joined the segment to explain why this kind of community-based intervention matters — and why a coffee shop, not a police station or hospital, is often the right place for someone in crisis to turn.

The response was overwhelming. People from across the country reached out, and the program has since expanded. Liberty Safe partnered with Cache Coffee to provide a larger safe and help other businesses set up similar programs in their communities.

What Started as One Safe Has Become a Movement

By July 2023, KSL TV reported that Cache Coffee had set up a nonprofit community coalition to help other Cache County businesses offer the same service. Attorneys and Liberty Safe are now giving small businesses a pathway to do the same thing.

"We had people from all over the country reach out to us," Jamie said.

Cache Coffee donated its original safe to Preece's Pretty Paws in Richmond, Utah — expanding the program's reach to the north end of Cache County.

If you or someone you know is struggling, Cache Coffee is here. You never have to fight alone.


Crisis Resources: If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or reach out to Cache Coffee directly at (435) 753-2284.

This story was originally covered by ABC News / Good Morning America.

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