Michael Coyne considers every customer who walks into his coffee shop his friend.
So when someone stole from his tip jar earlier this month, it left him shocked and confused.
“That really hurt me,” said Coyne, 30, who has autism and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as well as bipolar disorder. “I was disappointed for sure.”
Coyne runs Red White and Brew Coffeehouse in Warwick, Rhode Island, alongside his mother, Sheila Coyne. On March 4, he realized that most of the tips he had earned that day — about $20 — were gone, with just $2 left behind. His mother offered to replace the money, but Coyne refused.
She said most of their customers are regulars, so the theft felt personal to her son, who works the register and prepares beverages.
“It wasn’t about the money,” Sheila Coyne said. “He was just profoundly sad that somebody did that to him.”
The small, family-run coffee house opened in 2019 after Michael Coyne struggled to find employment because of his disabilities.
“He couldn’t even get an interview,” said Sheila Coyne, who took in Michael Coyne as a foster child when he was 10 months old and later adopted him. “He was struggling at every turn.”
After he tried for about four years to secure a job, Sheila Coyne withdrew from her retirement savings to open a coffee shop for her son.
“He was really interested in food service, and I thought, what better way to connect him to a community than a coffee shop?” she said. “To me, it just made sense.”
Although they opened in 2019 just before the covid-19 pandemic, the coffee shop was a success, and they moved to a larger, more central location in 2024. While Sheila Coyne’s mother, sister and other son help out at the shop, none of the family members takes a salary, as the coffee shop has not been profitable since the move. The store employs people with disabilities. Michael Coyne’s only income comes from the tip jar, and Sheila Coyne does consulting work on the side to support them.
They host monthly events for people with disabilities and their families, and they offer job-readiness sessions for special-education high school students. They opened a gift shop within the coffeehouse, and many of the products they sell are made by people with disabilities.
“Michael had a lot of friends who were making a product and didn’t know where to sell it,” Sheila Coyne said.
They have a security camera at the front of the shop, but it doesn’t capture the register. Stealing had never been a concern, Sheila Coyne said.
At first, she tried to help her son move past the theft, suggesting that perhaps whoever took the money was desperate.
“Listen, Michael, somebody needed it more than you needed it,” she recalled saying.
Still, she said she was crushed for her son, who remained despondent.
The next day, the chief of the Warwick Police Department stopped by, and Michael Coyne told him about the stolen tips. The chief said officers would investigate, and made him a new plastic tip jar with a lid. The original tip jar was an open stainless-steel cup.
Sheila Coyne and her son later recorded a social media video to let the community know what had happened.
“We’re moving on, but we just want to let people know to stay vigilant,” Sheila Coyne said in the video.
The theft struck a nerve with the community.
“That is so infuriating for many different reasons!” someone commented on the video.
“People can be so mean and disappointing,” another wrote.
Warwick Mayor Frank Picozzi also condemned the thief in a Facebook post.
“Red White and Brew is a very special place … run by wonderful people,” he wrote. “I’ve come to know Michael very well and believe me, it’s not the money that’s bothering him, he’s hurt.”
“If you’re in the area please stop in, it would mean the world to Michael and his co-workers,” Picozzi continued. “I’ll be going tomorrow.”
The mayor did visit the following day, and a steady stream of strangers followed, stopping by to show support. In just two days, Michael Coyne received more than $900 in tips — all delivered in person, Sheila Coyne said.
“That was the most special part,” she said. “It was truly just one person after another, leading with such kindness and grace that it renewed my love for humans and humanity.”
It did the same for her son.
“I was ecstatic,” Michael Coyne said. “I don’t think there’s a word that would say how happy I was.”
One woman told him that her 15-year-old son has autism, too. She bought a latte, then handed Michael Coyne a $100 bill.
“I was speechless,” he said.
While they still don’t know who stole the tips earlier this month, Sheila Coyne said the experience gave her son something more meaningful than what he lost.
“I couldn’t have taught him this,” she said. “He saw the good in people.”
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