Birchwood Coffee has decided to end its Pay-it-Forward donation program, which allowed customers to donate money towards feeding the homeless. The main reason is due to safety concerns, according to Jawah Scott, the storeSA国际影视传媒檚 owner.

Scott said the program had been running for seven years but over this summer, it had become more of a liability than anything.

She said the store had experienced incidents of people screaming and yelling at staff and customer, with some even resorting to violence.

SA国际影视传媒淚SA国际影视传媒檝e had people try to punch our customers and one of our staff,SA国际影视传媒� she said. SA国际影视传媒淭hat was a year ago, but regardless, theySA国际影视传媒檙e (becoming) very violent, very unpredictable and made people scream outside the coffee shop for a good 40 minutes.SA国际影视传媒�

The program worked like a tip cup, where customers could give money that the shop would then use to provide food and drinks to those in need. There were rules in place that prohibited individuals from being drunk or belligerent when receiving help.

Scott said police were sometimes called for assistance, but since instances continued to rise, she had no choice but to end the program.

SA国际影视传媒淚t just got to a point where unfortunately, it was doing us more bad than good,SA国际影视传媒� she said.

Scott said the store did try to push forward despite the challeges, especially with the wildfire in Hay River bringing more people into town.

SA国际影视传媒淪ome people were really respectful of it,SA国际影视传媒� she said. SA国际影视传媒淲e had one guy, who is homeless, come in on a regular basis. He was really nice and even when he had some funds, he would put it toward the pay-it-forward, like a SA国际影视传媒榯hank you for helpingSA国际影视传媒�.SA国际影视传媒�

Scott said she was heartbroken at having to end the program and while the future of the program is uncertain, she hopes that things will calm down after this summer and that they may be able to resume it at some point.