In the upstairs area above what used to be the Cheeburger Cheeburger restaurant in downtown Auburn, one family has decided to create a free space for people in the community to gather called The Table.
Whether it’s students needing a space to study, small groups needing a place to meet or people on a coffee break, Sherry Aaron said all are welcome.
When Sherry first got to look at the upstairs room, she said she felt like the Lord had saved it for them.
“The Lord has just really placed it in my heart, this is something that needed to happen,” she said.
“The more people that can gather and the more people that can maybe meet new people, that’s exciting, so that’s what we’re hoping for and praying for,” her husband Wren added.
Sherry, Wren and their two daughters Kailey Birkeland and Lauren Farris formed The Table Foundation in the summer of 2022, a nonprofit that will provide funding for the upkeep of the building and supplies.
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After about eight weeks of renovation, The Table slowly opened its doors in the fall of 2022 to small groups and different organizations. It’s located on 160 North College Street above what will soon be Jack Brown’s Beer & Burger Joint.
The Table is open Tuesday – Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Fridays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information check out their social media pages at the.table.auburn.
Inside, there is a large front room filled with tables and couches as well as two smaller rooms in the back that provide more privacy and can be reserved by emailing thetablefound@gmail.com.
Coffee and water are available, but people can also bring their own food or drinks. Alcohol and pets are not allowed.
The vision
The Aaron couple has lived in Auburn for 16 years. Sherry is a retired court reporter and Wren retired from working in the Department of Education. He then took on a full-time position with Church of the Highlands Auburn West as the campus pastor.
Sherry said the vision for The Table began with Betty Fulmer, a book and a burger joint.
When Sherry was two years old, she would sit with Fulmer, a lifelong friend of her family, while her mother sang in the choir at Eclectic Baptist Church. Fulmer passed away in June of 2020, but her 94th birthday would have been Friday, Feb. 3.
“She is celebrating with Jesus and probably making recommendations to the angels on what they need to be doing and how to do it,” Sherry said in an email. “That’s what she did to show her love to people. She ‘helped’ you do it right.”
Sherry said she took care of Fulmer during the 10 years before she passed away because she had no immediate family. Fulmer’s husband had passed away in 1987 and her only son, Randy, passed away in 2012 at the age of 58.
“I became her person, as she liked to call me,” Sherry said. “Several weeks before she went home to Jesus, she was concerned about what should be done with money that Randy had earned and invested and left to her.”
Sherry made a promise to Fulmer that “the money that she left would meet her in Heaven.” It wasn’t until a few years later after reading books by Andy Andrews, an author from Orange Beach, Ala., that she figured out the way she would put the money to use.
“In the book “Just Jones,” the character Jones has opened a 5 & 10 in the Warf in Orange Beach,” Sherry said. “The phrase in the book that caught my heart is when Jones says, ‘There’ve been a lot of conversations around it (the peace table) already. Conversations lead to understanding and peace. Anyway, that’s what the table is for. I guess it’s a good name.’”
Then while on a visit to Gulf Shores, Sherry went to Wisdom Harbour Studios, the place known in the book as 5 & 10, and saw the peace table.
“My whole heart was just so stirred. On our drive home, I told Wren, I need a place in downtown Auburn with a table,” she said.
She felt like the Lord was calling her to create a space like this in the city she and her family love.
Wren remembered the top floor of the building that housed the burger joint Cheebuger Cheeburger on the ground level since 1992. When he was at a men’s breakfast small group at Cheeburger Cheeburger a few years ago, he got a chance to look upstairs and see the empty space.
After eating breakfast downtown in January of 2022, the couple went to look at the space again, and Sherry said she remembers feeling like this was it.
Through a few connections, they were able to get in contact with the owner of the building and lease the upstairs.
The Aaron family is excited to see what the Lord has in store for the space and to see the community gather and have conversations together.