Customers went from eating on their feet to grabbing a seat.
Freedom a la Cart – once a food cart that was toted around central Ohio – officially opened its first sit-down restaurant, Freedom a la Cart Bakery + Café + Catering, on April 5 at 123 E. Spring St. in downtown Columbus.
The building is about 7,500 square feet, with offices on the top level, the café and kitchen on the ground floor and a commercial kitchen in the basement.
“I think it exceeds our expectations,” said Paula Haines, CEO of the organization. “I can’t think of anything more perfect than this space. I think it just feels like home.”
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The Story Behind Freedom a la Cart’s new Downtown Café
The nonprofit begins a new chapter at its gathering space and Downtown café, which opens to the public April 5.
By Jill Moorhead
Mandie Matthews loves making barbecue pork tacos for her friends and family and takes joy in inviting them into her home to gather around food. But “home” hasn’t always come easy for her.
Matthews was 19 and working as a business banker when her friend’s boyfriend placed them both on a classified website for escorts. Speaking in a February interview, Matthews says she made good money as an escort and felt glamorous. She didn’t think it was a problem, until it was. She got into harder drugs and started “working the block, getting in and out of cars.” She lost everything, including custody of her son.
Customers went from eating on their feet to grabbing a seat.
Freedom a la Cart – once a food cart that was toted around central Ohio – officially opened its first sit-down restaurant, Freedom a la Cart Café + Bakery, on Monday at 123 E. Spring St. Downtown.
The two-story building is about 5,000 square feet, with offices on the top level, the café and kitchen on the ground floor and a commercial kitchen in the basement.
“I think it exceeds our expectations,” said Paula Haines, CEO of the organization, which helps victims of human trafficking get back on their feet. “I can’t think of anything more perfect than this space. I think it just feels like home.”
When Randall Mayhew was reinstated as a Columbus police officer in January, it didn t really shock Hannah Estabrook.
It did, however, sadden Estabrook, who was for several years a docket coordinator with the Changing Actions to Change Habits (CATCH) Court, a special court for prostitutes and women involved in human trafficking. She is now helping to build Sanctuary Night, a drop-in center on Sullivant Avenue that will focus on providing food, showers and other services with a focus on those women. I was really disappointed, particularly because I know some of the women who were specifically hurt by officer Mayhew and they have overcome so much already, Estabrook said. The fact they found some courage to share their stories, they were even in some cases willing to be witnesses in his case. It s so remarkable to me and to respond to that courage with this kind of potentially crushing blow is devastating to me.