By Abbey Flaherty
What should have been a beautiful day for the Beaujean family turned tragic. Early on Easter morning, Tammy Beaujean, a chef at She Sings Café in Mayville, NY, was busy prepping for brunch when she received a chilling call from family that her house, that she had longed saved up to purchase, was burning down. As she rushed home to find the devastation, the miracle story began when she learned that everyone inside had miraculously gotten out safely. At the time when the fire started, Tammy’s family was home sleeping and a couple that just happened to be driving by the home on their way to church saw smoke. They instantly raced to help those inside while calling for emergency response teams. Their quick reaction and brave response from local heroes saved the lives of everyone who was sleeping inside.
On April 7th, She Sings Cafe hosted a “Spanish Paella and Sangria” fundraiser to support Tammy and her family. That night, the well-attended event featuring many local music talents, raised over $4,000 dollars. But this was only the beginning. The owner of the restaurant, Rebecca Magnuson, set up a Go Fund Me Page at https://gofund.me/cb8bbfa1 which has currently raised an additional $9,000 dollars.
Rebecca Magnusan, who owns She Sings Cafe, spent her high school years in Chautauqua County and studied piano at the Chautauqua Institution. She worked at the restaurant previously and saw firsthand how difficult it was for people to find employment opportunities in the area. The restaurant came up for sale and Rebecca wanted to purchase it, to transform the space into her own vision. After a great deal of hard labor gutting and remodeling the space, She Sings Cafe officially opened this past September 28th.
Rebecca worked for 25 years in Washington, DC with victims of domestic abuse. She herself is a survivor and has toured a one woman show from off Broadway to Los Angeles telling her story and has transitioned the show to film. With her past life experiences, she wanted the goal of She Sings Cafe to be about building a local safe house for women, and then also offer employment at the restaurant for those who needed work. After obtaining her liquor license, in continuance with her mission, she vowed to support female owned wineries and distilleries and has continued to keep that promise.
She Sings Cafe is so grateful to the community for all their outpouring of support and remains committed to continuing to raise funds for the Beaujean family so that they can find a new home. Donations can be made on the Go Fund Me page or coming into the restaurant itself. I welcome you to visit the Cafe as every Saturday has live music and they are planning for a fabulous Mother’s Day brunch.
She Sings Cafe is located at:
95 West Lake Road
Mayville, NY 14757
(716) 224-1090