Meet K. Killian Noe: author, pastor, community builder, and co-founder of the Recovery Café. Get to know her and you’ll get the sense that she thinks you’re an amazing person. She will see the best in you. She sees the best in everyone.

Killian co-founded the Recovery Café in 2002 to serve those experiencing trauma, homelessness, addiction, and other mental health challenges. The Café helps those suffering in these ways transform their lives through the power of authentic community. At their ninth cohort launch on Oct 25, 2021, there will be 37 cafes across the United States and Vancouver, B.C., making up the Recovery Cafe Network.

Killan has been inspired by communities she has spent time with all over the world, including Mother Theresa’s sisters in Calcutta and the Joweto community in South Africa, who are committed to racial reconciliation. She has since spent most of her adult life connecting people who have been disconnected and conjuring communities where there are none. She co-founded Samaritan Inns, a network of transitional and long-term healing communities, and has built and led faith communities that cross racial, socio-economic, religious and political barriers.

Killian’s work has come with ups, downs and losses, but it’s the shared experience of community that she’s helped build, coupled with lots of joy and laughter that keep her going. As we all grapple with loss, disconnection, and isolation, Killian offers a refreshing antidote: We humans are all connected to each other. What affects one of us, affects us all—and we all deserve to be known and loved.