5 years ago February I jumped off a cliff after becoming a casualty of the recession. I bought a small ice cream shop in an out of the way location and opened a café and bakery called The Buzz. We made it through the first year by DIY, working every job, gladly accepting every opportunity to give back to our community and the literal kindness of what, at that time, were strangers.We have succeeded in no small part by having an excellent product served up by outstanding staff who come to work every day as if The Buzz were their own business. We have succeeded by not compromising our product when times have been tough. We continue to support our local non profit organizations. We have created a place where our customers have become family and as engaged in our success as we are. And, we have a heck of a lot of irreverent fun doing it !Our business model is highly successful and we have quadrupled our sales from our first year seeing an 18% increase in 2013 across the board. However in late 2013 we sustained a $4000 loss and even though the holidays are traditionally our busiest time due to bad weather and other unforeseen hardship we have not been able to dig ourselves out of this hole. For the last quarter of the year to date I have ceased taking a salary, work as a staffer and our staff hours have been trimmed to the minimum. Sadly we even had to lay off one individual.I don't want to close this business as it is not just an asset to our community but the very heart of some people's daily lives ! We employee 10 individuals all of whom live and spend locally and utilize 4 local farms who rely upon our patronage.We will never "get rich" doing this. I opened this business, heartsick and grieving after the loss of my job, because I have a passion for sharing good food and community. Because my vision was to "make the world a smaller place one scone at a time". To show my sons that hard work and a vision does pay off and following your dreams isn't a luxury but a necessity.Please give us a hand and help us get The Buzz back on track. You can check us out at www.thebuzzgreenvalley.com and our Facebook page which is under Minda Metz.